


Under a Shared Sky

by ttacticianmagician



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Byleth is a birdbrain, Canon-Typical Violence, Claude is paranoid for good reasons but still loveable, F/M, Fantasy Racism, Fluff, Harpies, Humor, Minor Original Character(s), POV Multiple, Secret Identity, Slow Burn, Some angst, Sothis is simultaneously a gremlin and the single brain cell, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 210,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23112070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ttacticianmagician/pseuds/ttacticianmagician
Summary: He always found comfort in the skies, and today, it seemed like the skies returned the favor. Above him was a circling black dot. To other people, it would look like a bird of prey, or perhaps a wandering wyvern. But to Claude, that increasingly large shadow was the answer to everything.---Claude has a lot of plans. None of his plans involve an amnesiac harpy that gets injured while saving his life. He ends up uncharacteristically risking his plans in order to nurse her back to health. As the two of them spend time together, the mysteries that surround the harpy named Byleth seem to intertwine with the secrets Claude holds close to his heart. Perhaps they not only share the same blue sky, but also the same fate.
Relationships: Golden Deer Students & Claude von Riegan, Minor or Background Relationship(s), My Unit | Byleth & Sothis, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 370
Kudos: 293





	1. A Circling Black Dot

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Sees a lot of mermaid and vampire aus  
> Also me: What about harpies tho  
> My sister: Be the change you want to see  
> Me: Brainstorms another au when I should be working on my other WIPs
> 
> And yes this is a Claude/Byleth fic because I wanted to write about another best lord for a change (sorry Dimitri). I have a lot planned for this story, let's hope I can finish it before my inspiration peters out lol.

To the people below, the circling black dot in the sky probably looked like a large bird. Hawks, eagles, and vultures weren’t uncommon in this part of Fodlan, especially since today had good weather for flight. The sunny skies were clear of any clouds and the warm air buoyed anything that soared above them. The people below would only spare that lazily gliding shadow a single glance before moving onto the rest of their day, which most likely consisted of pillaging nearby villages and harassing traveling merchants.

To Claude and his wyvern, the scurrying figures on the ground appeared to be exactly what they were. Bandits. Not only were there a lot of them, they were actually pretty smart too. They constructed a camp on a hill that overlooked a road next to the Airmid River on one side and was guarded by a grove of trees on the other. There weren’t very many ways to approach the base without getting seen, especially since they had the foresight to construct makeshift walls and watchtowers. Watchtowers! Normally only civilized people in civilized towns had such defenses. Either the leader of this crew was a crafty one, or they had time to grow and fester into this mess.

No wonder the local merchants had to ask for their help. This problem had to be nipped in the bud before it got any worse. A part of Claude’s mind smugly added that if the reigning lord actually did his job and didn’t piss away money and manpower on petty border disputes, these bandits would have been ousted a long time ago. Then again, if everyone governed intelligently, then Claude and his partners wouldn’t have as much work to do. 

He gave the bandits below one last regard before careening away. His pearlescent white wyvern slowly descended in wide circles until she landed right in front of brightly garbed people. The wind she kicked up messed up the hair on some folks and ruffled fabric on others.

“How does it look?” Leonie jumped straight into the questioning.

“Worse than I initially thought, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.” Claude answered with a shrug.

Lysithea interjected with an impatient sigh. “How many bandits are there, Claude?”

“I counted around 40 or so.”

“40 bandits?!” Lorenz gasped in surprise. “To think that Lord Acheron had let this problem accumulate for so long! Such a large gathering of ruffians not only blemishes his already seedy reputation, it erodes the trust that the commoners place on their lieges!”

“ _ That’s _ what you’re worried about?” Hilda resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Not the fact that we’re fighting a group five times the size of ours?”

“I-it’s probably closer to six times.” Marianne whispered under her breath. “I don’t think I’ll be very useful here.”

“Aw, Marianne, don’t be like that.” Hilda shot her a reassuring glance. “You’re much more valuable than you think. Your healing spells alone are definitely worth more than five bandits.”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it!” Raphael curled his hands into fists and punched the air in a show of strength. “I’ll use one of my fists to take on my share of the bandits, and the other fist to wipe out yours!”

Marianne’s eyes lit up at their comforting words. “Thank you, Hilda and Rapheal.”

“We needn’t go that far yet.” As much as Claude hated to interrupt their enthusiasm, he had to stop them before they got carried away. “As much as I have faith in your muscles, it would be easier if we could eliminate a large portion of them before we engage them directly.”

“What do you have in mind? More poison?” Leonie piped up.

“You know me too well.” Claude chuckled. “But not this time. I want this mission over before dusk falls. Ignatz, how goes the map?”

The aforementioned young man glanced up from the parchment he was scrawling on. Black lines depicting trees, tents, watchtowers, and a meandering river graced the otherwise smooth surface. He added one last detail with a swish of his pencil before answering.

“Leonie and I were able to scout out most of their camp with our earlier reconnaissance. But I know you notice things better from up there, so feel free to correct any mistakes. In particular, I would like to add in the positions of those 40 bandits.”

Claude took a step closer towards the map to give it a cursory scan. “You did a pretty good job already. I would just add a tent here, and move this watchtower closer to here, and…”

The other people huddled around Claude and Ignatz as the map was being fixed. Well, most of the other people. Hilda got bored of their conversation and started fixing her makeup while Raphael chomped down on some dried meat that he pulled out of one of his many pockets. Claude suppressed the urge to say something to them, since he knew such remarks wouldn't be effective. He learned a lot over his peacekeeping militia's two year existence, including the fact that he couldn’t win them all during the planning stage. But he also learned that the Golden Deer would pull through during the actual fight.

“Now it looks good.” Claude drummed his fingers on the map. “So here’s what I’m thinking. The bandits look like they’re gearing up for another raid. Instead of letting them take their aggression out on some unfortunate souls, we’ll dangle some bait in front of them.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask this, but who is going to be the bait?” Lorenz sighed.

“Why, since you volunteered, it’ll be you of course!”

"Excuse me?!" Lorenz shouted indignantly, while Lysithea let out a snort of laughter.

"I thought you knew by now to keep your mouth shut during any of Claude's brainstorming sessions."

"But really, I need Lorenz to be the bait this time. We're going to draw out some bandits by marching a rich looking merchant wagon along the road here." Claude traced the path of a nearby road that was nestled between the camp and a river. "And what better way to look rich than to use a stuffy noble like Mr. Gloucester himself?"

Lorenz sighed as he shook his head. Despite his reluctance, he didn't say no to Claude's plan. "I do hope you're not expecting me to take on the bandits all by myself."

"What do you take me for? I'm not heartless." Claude placed a hand over his chest like he was wounded by his complaint. "Hilda, Lysithea, and Marianne will be with you as well. We have to make the wagon look pretty as well as rich."

"Ugh, I should have kept my mouth shut too." Lysithea lamented. "Now I'm stuck in a wagon with  _ him _ ."

"But you're also stuck in a wagon with me." Hilda winked. "Don't I make up for it?"

"Meanwhile, Leonie, Ignatz, and Raphael will attack from behind once the bandits are sufficiently distracted." Claude continued on with his scheming in order to keep the discussion moving. "I need you three to stick close to the forest and use your range to your advantage. If you take on too much heat, retreat back into the trees for cover. I can't have your team falling apart, or else the bait will get swallowed whole."

"Got it. This sort of plan is my specialty." Leonie nodded.

Rapheal, however, actually had a concern about what was just said. "You said to use range, but my fists can't fly as far as an arrow!"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Your job is to protect Leonie and Ignatz if the opponents get too close."

Rapheal seemed ok with that, judging by his satisfied hum. Just as he was placated, Lysithea chimed in with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Isn't it risky to put all the magic users in one team? If the forest team gets injured, there won't be anyone to heal them."

"I thought the same. But it's more important to pick people that are adept at fighting in a forest with hit-and-run tactics. Unless someone from the bait team wants to switch?"

Claude glanced over the four people he dubbed as the bait team. They in turn shot furtive looks amongst each other before Marianne spoke up.

"Um, I can join the forest team. As long as I hang back, I think I can manage."

"Are you sure?" Claude asked. He honestly expected Lorenz to volunteer, seeing how vocal he was about his role earlier.

"Yes." Marianne steadied her gaze to reinforce her answer. 

"Alright, so Marianne is joining the forest team, leaving Lorenz, Hilda, and Lysithea by themselves." Hearing Marianne's confidence made Claude's heart swell over just how far she had come over the last few years. He wanted to add something gushy, but Hilda beat him to it.

"You got this, Marianne!" She beamed. "And don't worry about us! Lorenz and Lysithea will be packing enough power to wipe out those silly bandits before they even know what hit them!"

"Er, what about you?" Ignatz directed his question to Hilda, but she managed to redirect that inquiry towards Claude.

"Yeah, what will you be doing, Leader Man?" 

Hilda's nickname for him made him lose his focus for a split second. She referred to him by that title fairly often, yet Claude still wasn't used to it. Maybe it was because, despite his posturing and plotting, he didn't feel like a true leader yet? He chased that line of thought out of his head to answer Hilda.

"I'll be in the skies, keeping an eye on things and harrying our opponents when the opportunity presents itself, as usual." One of Claude's hands crept towards the exotic looking bow strapped to his back. "For the most part, I'm going to back up the forest team. I can sow the most confusion with them, but I'll switch my support to the bait team if you guys are feeling overwhelmed. And as for signals…"

He detached his bow in order to show what he was talking about. As soon as his right hand brushed against a red stone embedded in it, an arrow made of cackling red magic formed in between his fingers. 

"A red arrow in the sky means it's safe for the bait team to move forward." He shifted his grip so that his left hand touched the stone, causing the arrow to change to an ethereal cyan color. Wispy tendrils of light replaced the electrical energy that once surrounded it. "While a blue arrow means that the forest team should charge in. And if I shoot both of them up at the same time, that means it's time for a tactical retreat. You guys got that?"

"Yup."

"Understood."

* * *

After the Golden Deer finished arguing and fussing over more details, it was time to get to work. Claude took to the skies on wyvern back while the two teams got into position.

Whenever he flew, he felt like he could forget about the rest of the world. It would be easy to, with how small everything on the ground was. He could just focus on the sun warming his back, the wind tussling his hair and clothes, and the occasional flap of his wyvern's wings. It felt like he belonged here, in the sky, not confined by gravity. But he couldn't lose focus now. The others depended on his keen eyes and the bow in his hands. 

He watched their wagon roll along the road by the river. There was nothing valuable inside, save for his allies, so if their plan should fail, they wouldn't lose anything but their lives. Claude wasn't going to let them fail though, not under his eagle-eyed gaze. As the bait drew closer to a watchtower that wasn’t easily seen from the road, activity picked up in the nearby camp. It didn’t take long for a group of seven bandits to leave the area and head over to the wagon. Claude was honestly hoping that the bait attracted more ruffians than that, but he was sure that once the fighting started, more would be delegated as reinforcements.

The bandits converged on the wagon. Lorenz stopped his horse when they blocked the way ahead and gathered around him like vultures descending on a carcass. Claude couldn’t hear what he was saying from up here, but he had no doubt that Lorenz was doing a fine job of acting like a haughty noble. The bandits obviously didn’t take his affronted protests seriously, as they still refused to move. Two of the bandits found Hilda and Lysithea sitting in the back and dragged them out into the open. Both girls pretended to be demure, frightened maidens that were willing to comply with whatever demands their captors had. Their irresistible charm lowered the bandits’ guard, allowing them to strike back when they least expected it. Lysithea conjured purple, shadowy flames that engulfed one of her would-be kidnappers while Hilda simply punched the other man in the gut. 

The other bandits didn’t believe what was happening at first and just fumbled about in surprise. Lorenz took the opportunity to cast a Sagittae spell while they were focused on the suddenly hostile women. Glittering arrows of light pierced through the body of one bandit and pinned down several others. The seven bandits were quickly incapacitated by magic, by fists, or by the mere sight of Hilda dragging a giant battle axe out of the wagon.

Their victory didn’t last long, however. More bandits streamed out of the camp with various weapons in hand. Claude counted an additional eight brigands, which ordinarily wouldn’t worry him as he was sure that Lysithea could blow up at least half of them with a single spell. But if he wasn’t mistaken, he spotted some robed mages and priests among their ranks. Their presence meant that this group wasn’t going to get routed by magic so easily, which really meant that this fight was going to get messy.

It was time for the forest team to make their move. Claude fired off a blue arrow that arched towards the woods where Leonie, Ignatz, Raphael, and Marianne were hiding. The glowing projectile stood out with its brilliant aura, even though it was similar in color to the clear blue skies. While it soared in a languid way before vanishing into thin air, the warriors on the ground charged at the enemy’s campsite in a not-so-languid manner. Leonie and Ignatz worked together to first take out the guards on the watchtowers, then to dispose of bandits that charged back without being aware of their surroundings. Raphael dug into anyone that the two archers missed in a whirlwind of gauntlets. Marianne lingered behind like she said she would, alternating between prayers for healing spells and incantations for offensive spells. The four of them did well in decimating anyone that was sent their way. They didn’t even need to retreat back into the woods to regroup at any point. Claude supposed that the bandits were too paralyzed by being attacked on two fronts. After their numbers dwindled on both sides, the bandits made the hasty decision to withdraw their forces from the bait so they could focus all their firepower on their ambushers.

Not even the dream team underneath his wings could withstand such odds, Claude shot a red arrow into the sky before spurring his wyvern into a dive. The forest team needed all the help they could get, which meant he had to join in the fray. As the scurrying figures on the ground grew larger and more detailed, he could make out panicked shouts warning comrades to the threat from above. He fired off three normal arrows in rapid succession, each meeting their mark in a bandit’s chest. By the time he and his wyvern became fully visible to their foes, quite a few of them pulled out their own bows in an attempt to snipe them out of the sky. There were definitely going to be too many arrows to dodge by agility alone, so he did the next best possible thing. He pulled a glass jar out of his belt, tossed it towards the middle of the camp, and shattered it with a well-aimed arrow. To the bandits’ surprise, the jar exploded fantastically, showering them with glass shards and creating a cloud of smoke mid-air that masked Claude’s wyvern. To his delight, arrows from all across the camp flew uselessly around him. Not only did he waste their time and precious ammunition, he made them reveal themselves to his allies on the ground. Several of the archers fell to the forest team, who were now fully in the thick of the fight, and Claude proceeded to take out the rest of them.

That maneuver sealed their fate, especially once the bait team caught up with them. Once the dust had settled, the bandit’s camp was in tatters. All the walls and towers were demolished, tents were flattened, and bodies were strewn everywhere. Those that were willing to lay down their arms were being tied up by Leonie and Raphael. Claude landed his wyvern and dismounted to evaluate the aftermath more closely. After spending so much time in the skies today, it felt a little odd to be back on the ground. That feeling was compounded by another black dot, drifting in the sky, that wasn't him for once.

Before he could figure out what that shadow belonged to, a high pitched voice made him wish he stayed in the air. “Claaaaaude.” Hilda whined as she dragged a bloody axe behind her. “That was way more than 40 bandits!”

“I did say  _ around _ 40, not exactly 40.”

“Still, your count was terribly off.” Lorenz lamented as he attempted to brush some dirt off his armor. “Our team vanquished approximately 25 of those ruffians, and unless the other team defeated only 15 bandits, the math is obviously off.”

“Of course we killed more than 10 of them!” Leonie retorted. “Look around you! We did most of the work while you guys took your sweet time getting here!”

“Excuse me? We had to fight uphill against bandits that knew we were coming!” Lysithea snapped back before turning her pink eyes to Claude. “Say, Claude, you saw everything. Which team killed the most bandits?”

“You both did equally well.” He replied back without hesitation. Truthfully, he lost track of numbers once the forest team started storming the camp. But if he did have to venture a guess, Leonie, Ignatz, Raphael, and Marianne defeated most of the bandits. That wasn’t to say that Lorenz, Lysithea, and Hilda slacked off, however. They played an important role in today’s fight, even though it wasn’t a role that gave them a bigger body count.

“Let’s focus on the situation at hand now.” Claude sought to change the topic. “I’m going back up there to look for any runners. So I need you guys to clean up the camp and make sure our prisoners don’t cause trouble. I don’t expect to find any escapees, but just in case, I’ll use a red arrow to signal their location. Be prepared to move out.”

“Leaving the hard part to your underlings, Leader Man?” Hilda shot him a knowing smirk. 

Before Claude could fire back another witty comment, Ignatz chimed in to defuse the situation. “That’s to say, you can count on us, Claude!”

“Thank you, Ignatz, everyone. I’ll be back before you know it, so don’t burn down the rest of the camp, ok?”

He took off on his wyvern once more. Part of the reason why he was in such a hurry to rejoin the skies was the nagging feeling that the leader of the bandits fled the scene. He caught a glimpse of such a man during his earlier excursion, but didn’t see him at all during the battle nor after it. He also noticed that a copious amount of the bandits’ treasure went missing as well.

Now, if he was the kind of person that would ditch his followers when the Golden Deer came knocking on his front door, and had the gall to bring a bunch of stolen loot with him, where would he run to? The answer was the woods, of course. The trees that once sheltered the forest team now provided enough cover to protect him from airborne enemies like Claude. Still, he could make out flashes of a red and black robe through the leafy canopy. The once-missing leader was an easy target for a skilled hunter like Claude, especially since he had a large bag of treasure slowing him down. He just needed to wait until his prey drew closer to the upcoming clearing. Claude didn’t even feel the need to notify the others of his location as he nocked a normal arrow. He would rather enjoy the amazement on their faces when he returned with a crucial person of interest that they had missed.

Claude released his arrow, just as the man stumbled over something. Instead of piercing his chest, it struck the bag of loot that blocked the way at the last second. The impact still threw off his bearings, however. The bandit leader fell face first, golden coins spilling out of the hole Claude’s arrow created. Undeterred by this turn of events, Claude swooped down as he prepared to shoot again. Just as his fingers released his second arrow, the man flipped over and held out hands that were wreathed in a bright cyan aura.

He recognized the color of that glow and the words he recited a moment too late. His arrow and his wyvern were buffeted by a sudden windstorm that threatened to tear them apart. Claude yanked on the reins with one hand while tightly gripping his bow with the other. A slice of wind struck the arm that held his bow, causing him to yelp loudly and drop it. Claude mourned for his prized weapon for a brief moment before calming himself and grabbing his wyvern’s reins with both hands. If he dropped these, then he would be losing more than just a family heirloom.

Another slice of wind cut into his wyvern’s left wing, and yet another slashed at her flank. With a blood-curdling shriek, the wyvern spiralled towards the ground in a freefall. As he hung on for dear life, Claude wished, for not the first time in his life, that he himself could fly, just before they crash landed.

He awoke to pain all over his body. Then he became aware of the knife at his throat. The bandit leader was lording over him with a smug grin on his face and Claude’s beloved bow in his filthy hand. Claude wanted to reach out and snatch it away from him, but that would just earn him a slit throat. He instead glared at the leader’s hideous visage, which glared back at him.

“I wouldn’t do anything funny if I were you.” He growled. “If you wanna make your death quick, tell me how to use this thing.”

“What?” Claude couldn’t help but chuckle. “You can cast a high level spell like Excalibur, but you can’t figure it out?”

“Shut up!” The leader brought the knife closer, close enough to draw a pinprick of blood. 

“No, seriously. Did you not know that Failnaught could only be used by the von Riegan family? Someone like you won’t be able to wield it. It’s basically a fancy paperweight in your hands.”

“That’s a lie.” The bandit snarled. “Otherwise, how can someone like you carry it? Claude  _ von Riegan _ , the mysterious nephew of Lord Godfrey von Riegan who started existing around six years ago. Others may think of you as legitimate, but not me. I can see it in your eyes, on your skin. You are no Riegan.”

Those words actually managed to spook Claude. He couldn’t come up with a light-hearted response to his accusations. Did this guy know? He couldn’t possibly know, seeing as how they’ve only just met. Yet his acrid tone burned him to his core and stole his wit away. He didn’t expect to hear such things here, when he already had to endure them back home.

The bandit leader let out a harsh laugh. Claude’s silence was all the affirmation he needed. “Come on, kiddo. Tell me how to use Failnaught. I promise I won’t reveal your secrets to anyone else.”

Claude’s eyes darted around for anything he could use against him. His wyvern was thankfully alive but unconscious. The various concoctions he carried on his belt were crushed by the fall. He doubted he could reach the hidden dagger in time before the bandit ganked him. In his desperation, he turned his gaze towards upwards, through the trees. He always found comfort in the skies, and today, it seemed like the skies returned the favor. Above him was a circling black dot. To other people, it would look like a bird of prey, or perhaps a wandering wyvern. But to Claude, that increasingly large shadow was the answer to everything.

“What are you smiling for?” The bandit snarled. “Did that fall make you lose your mind? If so, then maybe I’ll just off you now and- GACK!”

The shadow buried her talons into his shoulders and lifted him off the ground. The bandit’s dagger and Failnaught fell into Claude’s eager hands, although he had no use for them now that his savior had arrived. She attempted to carry him up, to the skies she just came from, but the man wasn’t going down without a fight. His hands glowed that teal color Claude was beginning to dread, and before he could warn her, the bandit launched another Excalibur spell at point-blank range. Her pained screeches pierced through the howling winds that abruptly ended when both of them crashed to the ground. Claude ran over and stabbed the bandit leader’s neck before he could pull off anymore surprise attacks.

But his efforts were too late to save her. Claude left the knife behind to see what he could do for the one who rescued him from a gruesome fate. Before him was a beautiful woman with a bird’s wings, legs, and tail, or maybe a bird with the face and torso of a beautiful woman? She had dark teal hair, a color that reminded him of the stormy seas, and wide blue eyes that regarded him strangely. Her feathers were ashen grey, and stuck out at odd angles from both the wind spell and the fall. Where there should be arms were giant wings, and where there should be hands were three scaly fingers with curved talons at the end of them. 

Claude hadn’t seen such a creature in Fodlan before, but he had read many books about them. Those books called her a harpy.

Those books also said that harpies usually didn’t wear clothes. This harpy thankfully proved him wrong, as she sported a black chestplate with pink accents. Claude briefly wondered where she got that from, but chased that thought out of his head. He had more urgent things to worry about, like how her right wing dangled awkwardly by her side. A harpy with a broken wing was a harpy that wasn’t going to last long. He couldn’t leave her like this, not when she became like this by saving his life.

What could he do though? Claude didn’t have much in the way of healing items or spells, especially for harpies. He could try finding a healer, but he wasn’t sure if Fodlan’s brand of healing magic would work on her. And he definitely wasn’t sure if there was anyone that would even be willing to work with someone so monstrous, so inhumane. Well, maybe Marianne would give it a shot, but she might also just faint away.

Claude’s mind spun with so many options, he ended up just standing there in silence. It took him a moment to realize that his stare was frightening her, judging from how she was slowly edging away. Claude cleared his head and cleared his throat.

“Hey.” He said. It seemed dumb to greet a scared harpy that way, but it was all he could think of. The harpy continued to scoot away from him.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Claude continued before he realized something. “Can you understand me?”

The harpy froze. He feared the worst, but then was reassured with the faintest of nods.

“Ok. Good.” Claude let out a sigh of relief. He opened his mouth to speak some more, but was interrupted by a rustle behind him. He whirled around, Failnaught raised and nocked with an arrow made of red energy, then lowered his bow when he saw it was just his wyvern rousing from her sleep.

He turned his attention back to the harpy. She remained she was, which Claude took as a positive sign. She must have believed his assurance that he wasn't going to hurt her. He put his bow away as another act of goodwill.

"Do you mind if I take a look at you?" Claude bent down to meet her at eye level. "I want to help you."

She didn't respond. Claude took a step closer, to test how much she trusted him. The answer was quite a bit. The harpy didn't move an inch. She just kept staring at him with big eyes. She only flinched when Claude touched her wings gingerly, and she reacted out of pain, not out of fear. 

What kind of person trusted a stranger like this, especially when she was critically injured? Sure, the harpy saved Claude from death at the hands of the bandit, but that just made the situation more puzzling. Why did she swoop in and grab him like that? Was she intending to eat him, or did she have some other motive?

He banished those unsolvable questions out of his hands to focus on the questions that did have answers. Claude inspected her right wing as gently as possible by studying how her limb bent and if any bones pierced through her skin. He knew quite a bit about broken wings, having cared for wyverns all his life. So he could tell that the harpy's wings were injured in a bad way. If she was left to recover naturally, she wouldn't be able to fly again in the best case scenario. In the worst case, flight would be the least of her concerns. He would need to intervene, somehow, but how…?

Approaching hoofbeats interrupted his examination. Claude unfortunately couldn't do anything for the harpy right now. If anyone else found her, or found him with her, then the consequences could be disastrous for both of them. The people of Fodlan usually didn’t react too kindly to people like her, with Claude being an outlier rather than the rule. He pulled her hands away from the harpy and backed off.

"You have to hide somewhere." Claude told her as he glanced around furtively. "Don't worry, I'll come back for you. But you can't be seen by anyone else."

He worried for a moment that she wouldn't listen to him. But the harpy darted away as soon as the last words of his warning left his lips. Right after she ducked into nearby bushes, Claude whirled around to meet their intruders, pretending that he wasn't interacting with a half-bird woman just moments before.

"Claude! Are you alright?" Marianne was the first to speak, surprisingly. Accompanying her was Leonie and Lorenz. All three of them were on horses, which explained how they got here so soon.

"I'm fine. I took a nasty tumble, but I don't think I broke anything." He stretched his limbs to show that he was well. That proved to be a bad decision, as a pang of pain shot through his arms and shoulders.

"You don't look fine to me." Leonie remarked.

"I look worse than I feel. Really. It's nothing that an elixir and a bit of rest won't fix. But if you want to help, Vaida could use a checkup."

He gestured towards his white wyvern, who was now fully alert. She tensed up when Claude mentioned her name, but relaxed when Marianne made her way over to her side. The gentle healer was one of the few people his wyvern trusted, and for good reason.

"And you guys could help me take care of the bandit leader. Or his treasure, at the very least." Claude kicked the aforementioned man to flip his body over. He was still dead. At least something was working out in his favor today. 

"You mean to bring the body back with us?" Lorenz complained with a look of disgust.

"Just so Ignatz could sketch a quick portrait of this guy." Claude replied. "He knocked me out of the air with an Excalibur spell. That's not something ordinary bandits know how to cast. I want to at least know who this guy is, and if he had any connections to more people we should be concerned about."

"If you say so." Leonie relented. "But only if you carry the body."

"Fine by me. You guys can take the stolen loot."

As they prepared to move out, Claude stole a glance back towards where the harpy hid. He knew it was a risky move with the other Golden Deer still troubled about his wounds, but he couldn’t help himself. He had to know if the harpy was alright in the few minutes that he left her alone. His concern was rewarded with a glimpse of her blue eyes that were half hidden by leaves. That intense stare didn't waver at all, not even when Claude mouthed something to her before he left with the others.

_ Stay safe. I'll come back for you. _


	2. A Lantern's Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude keeps his promise and goes back to the harpy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to mention this in the beginning, but this AU has some noticeable differences from canon. They will (hopefully) be revealed in time but if you're ever confused about something, feel free to ask!
> 
> Also as a disclaimer, if you find a person or animal with a broken bone, please do not try to treat them yourself. Find a doctor or veterinarian. I only did cursory research to write something remotely believable, I'm sure this is not medically accurate lol.

Claude couldn’t get the harpy out of his head.

There should be more important things to think about. Like the bandit leader he caught, killed, and brought back to the others. Normally, criminals that the Golden Deer took care of didn’t warrant any attention, but this man hinted at Claude’s secrets, secrets that he thought he kept hidden from all of Fodlan. Perhaps the bandit leader just said such things to get what he wanted. Still, the thought of people knowing who Claude really was made him pull at the reins of his wyvern much too tightly. Vaida was used to the occasional, accidental harshness from her master. That didn’t mean she had to put up with it all the time. She flicked her tail to slap Claude on the head from behind. Claude yelped and brushed her tail away to show that he was sorry for his unintended action.

Ok. Maybe that wasn’t something he should think about right now. What about the gold, silver, and other treasures that they stole back from the bandits? Those that were good with numbers and bureaucracy, which included himself, Lorenz, Lysithea, and Ignatz, had a lot of paperwork ahead of them for the next several days. They had to sort out all the reports that involved these bandits and try to return stolen money and items to their rightful owners. Nevermind the fact such a feat was impossible to do perfectly. Claude had no doubt that they were going to receive a lot of complaints and a lot of headaches about this. In fact, he had a headache about it right now.

So if any topics concerning bandits and stolen goods were out of the picture, what could he occupy his mind with? Claude found the answer when he returned to the realm of reality and found himself at a table full of food, surrounded by merry villagers and Golden Deer. Apparently the town they were going to spend the night in was plagued by the brigands they just disposed of. Upon hearing the news, they insisted on treating them with food, music, and celebration. 

Claude should be among them, chatting up a storm and downing countless goblets of wine. He normally couldn’t turn down a good feast, but the haunting image of the harpy that saved him persisted at the forefront of his mind. He wouldn’t say that he was concerned about her. Alright, maybe he had a normal, healthy level of concern. He wasn’t completely heartless. But he obsessed over her, even during this party, because she was an enigma he could dig his teeth into. Not only was he trying to figure out how to best heal her wing, he was wondering what her deal was. What was she doing here, so far away from the mountains that were supposedly a harpy’s natural habitat? How did she come across that breastplate she wore? How could she understand the language of Fodlan? Why did she come to the aid of a complete stranger, even if it meant breaking a wing in the process? Why did she trust him so readily?

He wasn’t going to solve any of those mysteries by sitting around like this. He had to leave the party and check to see if she was still out there. A harpy that couldn’t fly was a harpy that could easily get eaten by wolves or something. And if she died, then all those answers died with her.

“Claude?” Ignatz interrupted his pondering about the harpy before it consumed him again. The olive-haired archer was not much for parties, so he hung back where there were less people. Apparently, Claude wandered over to the same corner so he could be alone with his thoughts.

"Claude!" And there he goes, thinking too much again. He straightened up upon hearing his name a second time. 

"What's the matter, Ignatz?"

"Nothing's wrong with me. I was more concerned about you. You're kind of… spacing out." It seemed Ignatz was a bit reluctant to mention it. Sometimes, he was too polite for his own good. It was an essential attitude to have as a merchant, but while he was part of Claude's peacekeeping group, it was just an invitation to be used.

"If I may be so bold, are you feeling well? I heard you were hurt from a nasty fall."

"I wasn't hurt that badly." Claude flashed a smile to show that he was feeling fine. Physically, at least. "But you're right. I'm spacing out because there are some dire issues I need to take care of at home. I know I should relax and enjoy the party, but I can't stop worrying."

"Oh?" Ignatz's eyes widened as his mouth formed a small o. He was hooked. Claude maybe felt a little remorseful over manipulating him like this, but he doubted that Ignatz would be mad at him, even if he knew the truth.

"Yeah. It's nothing, though. If you noticed my spaciness, then I'm letting it bother me too much. I need to get back into the fray and mingle some more. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, though."

He got up from his seat right before Ignatz stammered out a protest. "W-wait! If something is bothering you, then you should take care of it! Especially if that something is important family business!"

Claude turned around with a look of surprise on his face. "Do you really think so? I mean, I would appear ungrateful if I ditched a party in our honor just to sort out something else."

"Of course! A party is just a party. We'll have more of them in the future, while your problems might become worse if you don't attend to them right away. I'll even cover for you if people ask about you."

And those were the words he wanted to hear. Claude plastered a fake smile on his face to match his earlier fake surprise. "Thanks, Ignatz! Have I ever told you that you're the best?"

"Oh, this is nothing. It's the very least I can do as a friend."

Friend. Right. Claude patted his shoulder with a kind hand. "I can't tell you exactly what I'm leaving for. Secret family matters and all that. So you can make up something, as long as it isn't unflattering."

"Sure?" Ignatz was starting to sound like he was regretting his offer. He better wrap this up quickly then.

"I'll see you back at the manor! Thanks buddy!" Claude patted him again before taking off. He didn't look behind him, but he was certain that Ignatz had his back for tonight. There wouldn't be a better time to sneak out to where the harpy was waiting for him. Claude made the most of the opportunity by shoving a bunch of medical supplies into a bag and then by throwing the bag and himself onto his wyvern. Like before with Ignatz, he felt slightly guilty over stealing stuff from Marianne, but it wasn't stealing if he was going to repay her later, right?

Once Claude settled down on her back, Vaida launched herself into the air. The village below was lit up with festive torches and lanterns, but their warm glow didn't extend far beyond the village's outskirts. The further they moved into the wilderness, the more they had to rely on their memory in order to pinpoint where the harpy was last seen. Claude lit a lantern just so he could see the treetops that were growing dangerously closer. They knew they reached their destination when he spotted snapped tree branches that could have only been broken by a falling wyvern.

Claude landed Vaida in the familiar clearing. Everything looked unfamiliar when cloaked in darkness or illuminated by his lantern's yellow light, but there were a few recognizable signs when he searched for them. A patch of dried blood. Bits of feathers. A set of clawed prints leading away from the clearing. That trail ended not long after he started following them, but at least he had a general idea of where the harpy went.

If Claude was a harpy with a useless wing, where would he hide? His first thought was high up in a tree, but he wouldn't be able to climb with only one good arm. He would most likely still be on the ground, hiding under some cover to conceal himself from predators. And he probably wouldn't have gotten far. The pain from broken bones would slow him down or force him to stop early.

Claude came across a large, dead tree with an enormous cavity in its base. When he held his lantern up, its light revealed a huddled mess of feathers and hair. Blue eyes squinted at the beacon that rudely interrupted her rest.

"There you are." He sighed with relief. "I came back like I said. And I brought some supplies with me."

He pulled his bag off of Vaida's back. The white wyvern stood guard while Claude bent down next to the harpy. He first handed her a vial made of blue glass, which she examined with a curious stare.

"It's an elixir. The magic kind." He told her. "It won't heal your broken bones, but it will heal everything else and stop the pain."

The harpy didn't take the vial from him. Maybe she didn't know how to open it? These bottles weren't made for harpy hands after all. Claude uncorked the cap for her and tipped the elixir's neck back into his mouth, miming how to drink it. The harpy watched him intently, the glimmer in her eyes indicating that she maybe understood him. Claude handed it over to her, and she gulped down its content in one go. The bird woman coughed, then shuddered, then threw the bottle to the ground, where it shattered into a million pieces.

"You don't like it, huh?" Claude laughed. "I don't blame you. It tastes nasty to me too. But do you at least feel any better?"

The harpy hesitated. He could see her thinking about her answer carefully by the way her eyes gleamed in the lantern light. She was probably figuring out if the easing of her pain outweighed the terrible taste. After a moment of silence, she nodded.

"Good." Claude grinned. "By the way, my name is Claude. What's your name?"

She responded with silence again. Did she know how to speak the Fodlan language? Just because she understood it didn't mean she could use it. That possibility didn't bother him too much, even if it would make asking questions harder in the future. He needed to focus on healing her wing, first and foremost.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me your name. But I need to take a closer look at your wing. I might have to touch it in order to determine what exactly is wrong and how to fix it. Is that ok?"

The harpy nodded. It was a scared nod, like she was afraid of how much his poking and prodding will hurt, but she also trusted him to help her. His curiosity over her faith in him was piqued again, but he pushed that aside and started working on her wing.

"The pain should be mostly dulled by the elixir, but this still might hurt a bit." Claude slowly stretched her wing out. He first had to find out how her wing was broken by feeling for any abnormalities. The harpy let out a cry of anguish that grated his ears, but he could do nothing else for her pain besides grinding his teeth and working through the noise. He sought to finish this as quickly as possible, but was cut short when the harpy smacked him in the face with her good arm.

"Ow! Hey!" Claude touched where she had hit him. He found a bit of wetness on his cheek, undoubtedly from her claws. He couldn't really begrudge her for doing that, however. He was hurting her more than she hurt him, despite the elixir she had just consumed.

The brief time he spent on her wing managed to prove fruitful. Just as he suspected from the last time he examined the harpy, her bones were broken in two places, which made the situation more complicated. At least it didn't seem like any major blood vessels or nerves were damaged. 

"Ok. The next part might hurt more." Claude's words made the harpy recoil, and he didn't even finish speaking yet. "I need to set your bones back in place. You might need another elixir to get through this."

He gave her another blue bottle. The harpy eyed it warily, like it was a snake about to bite her. 

"Please drink it." Claude sighed. "Or did you want me to handle your wing without any painkillers?"

That got her to gulp it down. Like before, she contorted her face in disgust and smashed the glass vial against the ground. Claude didn't waste anymore time and went straight to work. He learned how to set a human's broken arm during his time in Leicester's premier military academy and how to set a wyvern’s wing from spending so much time around them. Surely setting a harpy's wing would be something in between the two. Still, his heart pounded like a war drum as he gripped her broken bones and the harpy wailed in his ears. If he screwed this up, he would have to live with the fact that he ruined a harpy's life for the rest of his days. That was not a pleasant consequence to think about while he was nervous.

He took a deep breath and tugged. The harpy screamed as she swiped at his face again. Claude luckily anticipated such a reaction and dodged.

"It's ok now! I'm done!" He backed off from her. To his ears' relief, she calmed down as soon as his hands left her wing. Then she tested her injured limb with small motions, an action that made her wince and made Claude panic.

"Wait. No. I'm actually not done yet. I need to splint your wing." He pulled out some arm-sized wooden planks, ties, and bandages out of his bag. Thankfully, the harpy understood his intention and allowed him to wrap them around her wing. Tying the planks together tightly enough to hold her bones in place proved to be a bigger challenge that he thought, due to all the feathers in the way. But he accomplished his task with patience, both from himself and the harpy.

"There. Now I'm done." Claude nodded. "But that doesn't mean you can do anything reckless. It'll take several weeks for that to heal, and longer for you to fly."

The harpy didn't seem to mind that, from how vacant her stare was. She instead picked at her splint with the talons on her other wing. Claude gently pulled those talons away from his handiwork.

"And it'll take even longer if you mess with it." He scowled. Claude honestly felt like he was dealing with a child that had no common sense, which brought up another urgent question.

"So where's the rest of your flock? I know harpies don't usually live alone."

The harpy glanced up. Even after everything he had done for her, she still didn't have any words for him. But Claude knew that she could at least nod and shake her head, so all he had to do was reword his questions.

"Do you have any family and friends that can take care of you?"

She shook her head.

"Do you have a home?"

Another shake.

"Do you have  _ anything _ ?"

The harpy didn't respond back immediately. Then she shrugged. Claude exhaled loudly and placed a hand over his face. When this harpy broke her wing in order to save him, he thought that he would just fix her up in return and maybe ask her some juicy questions. He didn't expect to take responsibility for her wellbeing. Admittedly, he could just leave her be and wash his hands of the whole ordeal. But he wanted answers, damnit! He couldn't leave this enigma unsolved, after all the work he did to get to this point. Claude had to see this through to the end, even if it meant jeopardizing everything.

Also, a harpy with a splint wasn't going to fare much better than a harpy with a broken wing. Yeah. He couldn't forget that part of his reasoning.

"Alright. I can't believe I'm saying this, but do you want to come home with me?"

The harpy raised a confused eyebrow. That was the strongest emotion he had seen out of her, besides her screaming and flailing while Claude was repairing her wing. 

"I don't mean it like that." He said in his defense. He probably didn't need to, if this harpy was as naive and childlike as he assumed, but he had to put it out there anyway. "You're not going to last long in the wilderness by yourself if you can't fly. You would be safer in a quiet place, with someone to watch your back. Although, my place isn't exactly welcoming towards harpies, so you would be confined to one room most of the time. I'm thinking of keeping you in the wyvern aviary. No one would bother you there, especially if you stay with Vaida."

He hated himself for making such a suggestion. A flightless harpy trapped in a small space would be a living harpy, but not a very happy one. How could anyone that spent much of their life in the skies be ok with becoming grounded for the next several weeks, or perhaps longer? Claude wished that the harpy hadn't bothered to save him from the bandit. Then he wouldn't feel obligated to do all this for her, and still end up condemning her to misery.

But it seemed like the harpy had no such qualms, with the way she looked at him expectedly. Claude didn't have anything to say in response for once. He stared back, trying to figure out what was going on beneath those royal blue eyes. They still had nary a hint of emotion within them, but that just made them more appealing to him. A mystery that could be solved with a single glance was not a mystery worthwhile of his attention. 

That was what he kept telling himself anyway. "Are you sure you want to come with me? Like I said, you probably won't have much freedom in the near future. But it's better than being dead, I suppose."

She nodded. That simple action took a lot of weight off his shoulders. Claude stood up to ready his wyvern for flight, and the harpy followed. He unearthed a roomy cloak from his bag to give to her.

"You might want to put this on. If anyone sees you, try to act like a bag of feathers or something."

She heeded his suggestion and wrapped herself in the flowing fabric. Claude was pleased to see that he guesstimated her size right. Or rather, he guesstimated the size he needed in order to hide every feather from view. The harpy stumbled adorably while she tried to climb onto his wyvern. He had to lend her a hand if they were going to get out of here before the sun rose.

The harpy wrapped her good wing around his torso once they were seated. An uncharacteristic blush crept across Claude's face. He couldn't fly like this. The cloak covered her feathers, sure, but they still kinda poked through the cloth and tickled him. Yeah. That was the reason why he was blushing.

"Um, hey." He muttered. It was embarrassing to admit that he still didn't know the harpy's name. He couldn't just keep on calling her 'the harpy', but what else was he supposed to do? She said she didn't have anything, that might also include basic necessities like a name.

"Byleth."

"What?" Claude whirled around, flabbergasted. Did she just talk? His suspicions were confirmed when she opened her mouth and a deadpan voice came out of it.

"My name is Byleth."

Words got stuck in his throat. He wanted to ask a million questions. He wanted to ask her what kind of name was that, why didn't she talk before if she could talk, and who gave her that name if she didn't have family or friends? But at Vaida's impatient snort, he choked those questions down.

"Ok. Byleth. Could you not hold me like that? If you want to hold onto me for safety, just cling to my back."

She slowly shifted her wing's grasp from his waist to his shoulder. Her talons tugged at his shirt, causing him wonder if he'll find any holes that would be hard to explain tomorrow morning. But this was better than the alternative at least. With a utterance and a flick of leather reins, Claude urged his wyvern upwards and the three of them soared into the starry skies together.


	3. A Throne of Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth settles into her new, temporary home and has a strange dream.

"Welcome to the von Riegan manor!"

Claude presented the large, elaborate mansion below him with a wave of his hands. His house, and the base of the Golden Deer, was in a modest town called Cornwall at the edge of Riegan and Gloucester territory. Its central location in the Leicester Alliance made it convenient for a group that partook in various missions throughout the land. Even though it wasn't as fancy as the real von Riegan manor in Derdriu, it served Claude well enough.

To Byleth, who presumably never laid eyes on any sort of mansion, his house was so impressive, it stunned her to silence. At least, Claude assumed that was why she stayed quiet. She had not said a word since introducing herself. 

"But like I said before, you won't be staying in the manor itself. There's too many people that would object to your presence, to say the least" Claude mentioned. "You're going to stay where we house the wyverns instead. Sorry about that."

He veered Vaida to the right, until they circled around a nondescript stone edifice that was taller than it was wide. It was definitely less pretty than the manor, but Byleth didn't voice any objections. Like usual.

The white wyvern descended towards the front of the aviary. Dawn was barely upon them, which was a good thing in Claude's mind. It took them all night to fly here, but it would be a while longer before the rest of his allies got here on foot or horseback. They would have some time to settle in before Claude would have to start deflecting their questions. 

He dismounted from his wyvern to open the gates. Vaida walked inside without needing to be urged. Apparently she was tired from her night-long flight and was ready to rest. Claude felt bad for pushing her so far, especially when she was downed by an Excalibur spell yesterday, but he didn't have a choice. Luckily, they could relax for a couple days before their next mission. 

Claude left Byleth on Vaida's back as he led her to her room. They passed by several other wyverns along the way, each of them a varying shade of brown, before reaching the door at the end of the hallway. Vaida's room was noticeably larger than the others. It was basically a tall, circular space with wooden perches embedded in the stone walls, a watering trough, and piles of sand and pebbles strewn about the floor. There were a few windows that allowed the morning light to stream through, the biggest one being an opening in the ceiling that was covered by netting. 

Claude took everything off of Vaida, including Byleth, before the wyvern flopped down on a particularly tall mound of earth. With a sweep of her wings and tail, she crafted a nest of sorts to promptly fall asleep in. 

"Wow. She must be really tuckered out if she didn't even want to eat anything first." Claude chuckled. "But I bet you're hungry. Wait here and I'll get you something to eat."

He left her behind with the sleeping Vaida, making sure the door was locked securely on his way out. Claude was the only one with the keys to Vaida's room, mostly out of safety for others. His personal mount didn't treat other humans kindly, save for Marianne. If anyone else intruded into her territory without Claude around to intervene, they would be in for the thrashing of their lives.

It was why Claude thought her room was the safest place to hide the harpy in. Yet he still worried about her as he made his way to the kitchens. Vaida didn't show any hostility towards Byleth during the flight home, but that didn't mean her attitude could change once she woke up. She was a beast of many emotions throughout the many years that Claude had known her. And even if she behaved well, that didn't mean Byleth could face trouble from other inhabitants of the manor. No one else was allowed into Vaida's room, yes, but the harpy that he hid in there could still be found out some other way.

Was Claude going to have to keep an eye on her all the time? That idea wasn't feasible in the slightest. He had paperwork to take care of, friendly relations to maintain, and training to do. He couldn't waste his remaining hours in a stinky, sandy pit. Even if he did somehow manage to fit harpy-watching into his busy schedule, people would talk if he spent too much time in the aviary. Unwanted rumors that struck too close to home was the last thing he needed right now.

His very presence in the kitchens apparently stirred the gossip he was trying to avoid anyway. The servants of the household were already awake to prepare today's breakfast. They all stared at Claude as he casually strolled through, looking for something that would be suitable for his guest. Byleth would probably like meat, but what kind of meat? Were there any herbs and spices that wouldn't be palpable for her? Would she like fruits and vegetables as well?

"Master Riegan?" A man stirring a pot of Daphnel stew addressed him nervously when Claude hovered over his shoulders for too long. "I did not expect you to return so soon."

"Oh, I'm only back to take care of some urgent business. You know how it is, being part of the Riegan family. There's never enough time to do everything."

"If we were aware of your arrival, we would have made a more suitable breakfast for you." The man sadly glanced down at his stew.

"Actually, that looks great!" Claude inhaled deeply to take in the delicious odor. It had chicken in it, so it should be meaty enough for Byleth. "Could I take some with me to my office?"

"Certainly." The servant ladled out some soup into a decently sized bowl.

"You know what? I kinda skipped dinner last night so I'm feeling peckish." That was a lie, of course. Claude got plenty to eat during the party. "Could I get a dish of pheasant and eggs, and also a platter of red turnips?"

Claude was tempted to order more food, just to cover his bases, but he should only take what he could carry back. The servants were already giving him funny looks when he waddled out of the kitchens with a tray full of dishes, bowls, and eating utensils delicately balanced in his hands. He hoped that he wasn't going to run into anyone else, especially when he diverged from the path to his office and walked towards the wyvern aviary instead.

Somehow, he made it back without any incidents. As soon as he entered Vaida's room, Byleth lifted her head up from a crater of sand she was resting in. Did she try to make a nest to sleep in like Vaida? Or maybe she was taking a dust bath, like some birds did? Claude gave her a bewildered look before remembering that he had food to give her. The delightful smell lured the harpy over to his side.

"Do you like what you see?" Claude sat down on the ground. He should really get a chair in here if he was going to spend time with the harpy. And he needed actual bedding for her too. While he made himself several mental reminders, Byleth picked up a turnip, inspected it, and popped into her mouth. She gave it several chomps before deciding that she liked it and devoured the rest of the plate.

So she could eat vegetables. That was good to know. Claude watched with interest as she moved onto the other dishes. She was also a big fan of the pheasant and eggs, judging how quickly she shoved everything into her gaping maw with one hand. Eating in such a manner caused quite a mess, but Claude really shouldn't have expected otherwise. It didn't seem like Byleth knew how to use the forks and spoons he provided her with. He didn't bother teaching her immediately, deciding that she was doing fine without them, until she attempted to pick up the hot bowl with three fingers and spilled some stew in the process.

"Hey, I gave you spoons and such for a reason, you know." Claude knelt down beside her and took the bowl out of her hand before she ended up dropping it. Byleth chirped sadly and reached out to grab it again.

"You can have it, but you have to use a spoon, or else you'll spill everything. Like this." Claude grabbed a spoon and dipped it into the stew. He then held it up to his mouth and showed her how to sip from it. He felt a bit silly teaching her something that even little kids knew how to do, but he supposed this was necessary. He couldn't have her ruining precious food, nor making a mess in Vaida's aviary.

Byleth successfully used the spoon on her first try. While she slowly consumed the rest of the stew, Claude showed her how to wield a fork and a knife for future reference. He noticed that she picked up on these lessons fairly quickly, like perhaps she had used them in the past but only just recalled them now. That was a curious fact that he would have to file away for later. He wanted to ask her questions about this and other topics, but the harpy yawned and passed out from a food coma shortly after she was done eating.

Claude couldn't help but yawn as well. He didn't really feel the effects of his all-night flight until now, when Byleth fell asleep. It wouldn't hurt to get a wink of sleep himself, if only because he wouldn't get any once the other Golden Deer came back. He gathered up the empty dishes and left the slumbering harpy and wyvern in peace.

* * *

Byleth was flying.

She soared in the great blue sky that stretched for miles upon miles. Beneath her was rocky terrain that seemed inhospitable from her vantage point, but also felt familiar somehow. Yet the winds did not allow her to land and inspect it for herself. A gentle gust propelled her forward, towards a single mountain that she definitely recognized. She had been here before, and knew what to expect when she alighted upon the very tip of the mountain.

Before her was a tall throne of stone, smoothed by many hands and painstakingly carved with intricate patterns, unlike the jagged and wild peak they stood on. In the throne sat a sleeping child with green hair, pointed ears, and a strange outfit with red and white ribbons and covered by a green, feathered cloak. Upon Byleth’s arrival, the girl woke up, and stared at her with vibrant eyes that were the same color as her hair.

“Well? How did it go?” Sothis yawned.

Byleth fumbled for a response. The last time she was here was… the night before last night? Yes, that felt right. But the last time she heard Sothis’s voice was right before she met Claude. While she flew over the scene unfolding below her, a striking vision almost paralyzed her body. She saw a man in golden clothes, stained red by his own blood. She saw a smug bandit with a bloodied dagger in one hand and a stolen heirloom in the other. She was overwhelmed by despair for the death of this stranger, whose grand fate was abruptly ended by this act of meaningless cruelty. Whose fate somehow intertwined with her own. And if that vision wasn’t enough to push her to act, the girl that once only appeared in dreams actually spoke to her in her waking mind, urging her to save this unknown man.

“I saved Claude.” Byleth announced. “But I broke my right wing.”

“You did what now?!” Sothis sat up, her feathered cloak separating into two giant wings in the process. Her wings fanned out as she slapped the armrests of her throne with her hands, making her anger more apparent than her small stature.

“I dove in and grabbed the bandit by the shoulders. I was going to lift him up and drop him, but he used a wind spell against me. Then I fell and broke my wing.”

Just remembering that moment caused pain to course through her wing. Byleth glanced down and saw that it was now in a splint. It looked like she won’t be getting off this mountain by herself anytime soon.

Sothis’s furious expression lightened just a tad, but her voice still had an edge to it when she spoke. “You fool! When I told you to save the boy, I did not mean for you to risk your life in the process! You need to think before you charge into the fray!”

“I’m sorry.”

“An apology will not fix the dire situation we are in.” Sothis settled down in her throne. She wrapped her wings around her upper body once more. “Do not forget that our souls are mysteriously bound together. If you die, I shall cease to exist as well.”

Byleth nodded, even though she felt that their situation isn’t as dire as Sothis thought. Yes, her wing was broken and she couldn’t fly until it healed. But the man she saved was a kind man who helped her out in many ways after she was injured. He set her fractured bones and offered her shelter and food until she completely recovered. If it weren’t for his compassion, she might have been preyed upon by now.

“So this Claude gave you that splint?” The girl on the throne spoke as if she could read Byleth’s mind. “What happened afterwards?”

“He brought me to his home, where I can recuperate in peace. Or, to be more precise, he brought me to his wyvern’s room.”

“No wonder it smells so foul here.” Sothis wrinkled her nose. Byleth sniffed the air and caught the scent of wyvern droppings. She found herself not terribly bothered by it, however.

The green-haired girl quickly moved onto more important matters. “Am I right to presume that we cannot leave our new quarters?”

“Claude did not explicitly forbid me to leave, but he did mention that the other people living here would not like me. Also, the door is locked whenever Claude is not around.”

“So we are being imprisoned then.” The nasty way that Sothis stated her words startled Byleth. She did not think that her living arrangements had that sort of connotation to it. And yet, now that Sothis brought it up, she couldn’t help but feel slighted. 

“Should we escape from here?” Byleth asked.

To her surprise, Sothis shook her head. “If we left, where would we go? Our memories, and the whereabouts of any home we might have once had, still have not returned. It is best that we stay here where it is safe, and seek out any answers we can grasp at.”

That sounded like a good idea. Both Byleth and Sothis had no memory of their past. Their earliest recollection began about a week ago. During a dream of nothing but darkness, Byleth heard Sothis’s voice nagging at her to wake up. When she opened her eyes, she found herself at the bank of a river. For the next several days afterwards, she focused on survival and survival alone. Her chance meeting with Claude was the only time she felt like she accomplished anything in terms of regaining her memories. Although she was certain she had never met the man before, the sight of him had triggered a vision as well as an inexplicable draw towards him, like he was to play an important part of her life. That had to mean something.

“During Claude’s next visits, we must ask him questions.” Sothis stood up and paced in front of her throne. “Who is he? Where are we, exactly? And why can we not walk freely among the others? We must get our bearings straight if we wish to do anything about our predicament. After all, the last time you rushed in without a plan, you broke your wing and landed us in this mess.”

Byleth was about to apologize for her rash actions, but got the feeling that Sothis didn’t expect nor wanted to hear that from her. The youthful girl instead walked closer, not stopping until she was only a few inches away. Some strange dream magic allowed Sothis to hover in the air without flapping her wings and make eye-level contact with Byleth’s deep blue eyes.

“Do not fret about what to say. Since you seem wholly incapable of making good decisions without my guidance, I have chosen to stay with you during your waking hours as well. It will be impossible for you to ruin things any further with me around.”

Sothis touched Byleth’s forehead with an index finger and gave her a push. Byleth took a step back, causing Sothis to let out a raucous laugh that sounded like a high-pitched crow’s caw.

The harpy didn’t laugh back. She wasn’t sure about what was funny in the first place. “I don’t ruin things as often as you suggest. I can function on my own.”

“Oh? So the hatchling has decided to fledge after all?” Sothis grinned. Her smile didn’t come from malice, but it still made Byleth uneasy. “Tell me, what makes you think that?”

“I learned how to eat with a spoon, fork, and knife today.”

Sothis’s second laugh was louder and shriller than the first. “That is hardly an accomplishment! Human children learn how to use those at a very young age! Are you calling yourself a child, Byleth?”

She didn’t answer. She knew that Sothis would just twist her words and mock her further. Yet the way she phrased herself suggested something curious. It seemed that Sothis came to the same realization. Her legs swung in the air several times as she contemplated on what she just said.

“Hm, I wonder how I knew about that.” She turned her emerald eyes back towards Byleth. “It must be a memory from your past, as I am certain that I have not used spoons or knives or forks before. Did you remember anything while you held them in your talons?”

Byleth was about to say no, but that wouldn’t exactly be the truth. She did feel like she had used them before. That feeling was incredibly vague when she ate with Claude, but now it grew into something more tangible. She glanced down at her wing talons. Yes, she was sure that they once utilized a variety of eating utensils, from a time before she met Claude. Rough, calloused, human fingers wrapped her talons around the shaft of a wooden spoon and helped her scoop up some piping-hot broth. Someone’s breath blew on her spoonful of soup, encouraging her to do the same. She glanced behind her and-

She couldn’t recall anything else. The rest of that memory slipped out of her grasp like a feather carried by the wind. Sothis reached above Byleth’s head and snatched a grey feather that suddenly flew over her. She inspected her catch with curious eyes for a moment before releasing it. The feather floated away and out of sight.

“I suppose I owe you an apology. Your lessons with Claude are not completely useless. It seems that you were once close to a human, so perhaps if you continue to learn the things that humans do, you will be able to recall more memories.”

Byleth nodded. She would have been amazed that Sothis didn’t treat her like a child just now, but she was more focused on the glimpse of her past. It was so warm, it lit a fire in her core that hadn’t burned with any ambitions since she woke up on a riverbank. Now she had an actual goal, one that wouldn’t allow her to be content with whatever the winds of fate brought her.

If Sothis noticed the change in her demeanor, she didn’t say anything about it. She instead yawned and sat back on her throne.

“That’s enough excitement for now. If I will be with you when you’re awake, I must get my sleep when… ever I… can…”

The green-haired girl fell back into a deep slumber. Byleth stood there, watching her chest rise and fall with every breath, before realizing something. Even with her newfound desire, she couldn’t act if she wanted to. Her wing was still broken and she was still stuck on this mountain. How, exactly, was she going to get off?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this fic, Sothis is basically Byleth's single brain cell that still acts like a brat sometimes. I had a lot of fun writing her. :3c


	4. A Million Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude and Byleth play a fun little game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and future chapters will have the occasional reference to dead animals (in the context of food). Not sure how much it'll bother people but just throwing it out there.

Claude ended up sleeping the morning away, and was only awakened by light taps on the door. When he opened the door, he was greeted by many faces, some eager to see him and some upset by his bedhead. They all immediately launched into a chorus of questions and concerns, with one voice standing out in particular.

"Claude, why did you ditch us last night?" Hilda whined. "The villagers wouldn't stop asking for you, so I had to talk to them in your stead!"

"That doesn't sound too bad. After all, you're quite the chatterbox."

"Yeah, no. It was pretty awful. They were basically worshipping me as a hero, and it was hard to get a normal conversation going without people tripping over themselves to thank me!"

"Worshipping _us_." Lorenz corrected. "Besides, it is a noble's duty to graciously accept the commonfolk's gratitude, even if it overwhelms them. For some commoners, words of thanks are all that they can give."

“Jeez, Lorenz. Can’t you go five minutes without waxing about your noble duties?” Leonie glared at him. In the background, Raphael snickered at how often the word ‘duty’ was being used.

“Anyway, you still haven’t answered my question!” Hilda tried to corral the discussion back to the first topic. “What’s so important that you chose to go back home to work on it?”

“It _is_ quite unusual for you to abandon a party. You’re the one that always finds an excuse to throw one.” Lysithea chimed in.

“I throw feasts all the time, not parties. There’s a difference.” Claude shot the pale woman a pointed glare. He neglected to come up with an adequate excuse for his absence, due to the harpy, so he stalled for as much time as he could in order to come up with one. “Didn’t Ignatz tell you guys about it?”

“I-I said that I didn’t really know the details.” Ignatz withered under the unexpected attention. “Because I didn’t want to pry into your family business.”

“See, I got really curious when he mentioned that.” Hilda widened her eyes and fluttered her eyelashes in an attempt to look cute. “I thought you wanted to stay away from that junk as much as possible. Yet here you are.”

“Some of us can’t shirk off our responsibilities like you, Hilda.” Claude scoffed. “And I can’t tell you what I’m working on even if I wanted to. You’ll find out soon enough anyway.”

That was a complete lie. He hoped to the gods that Hilda and everyone else never discovered the secret he was hiding in the aviary. Luckily, it seemed like his hastily constructed fabrication appeased Hilda for now. She rolled her eyes and sighed a half-hearted ‘whatever’.

However, Lorenz was not so easily dissuaded. “I do hope that whatever you are working on is a pleasant surprise, at the very least. Lord Godfrey has been testing my father’s patience at the roundtable, and the last thing House Gloucester needs is another Riegan muddying up affairs.”

Claude wanted to tell him off, or maybe let slip a false hint that would wipe away that smug attitude of his. Even though Lorenz was part of the Golden Deer, he still butted heads with his commanding officer over Alliance business, differing opinions, Claude’s un-noble behavior, etc. On most days, Claude could live with the constant antagonism. But apparently, not today. Probably because the longer he entertained his probing, the more likely he was to accidentally reveal something about the harpy.

So he had to swallow his pride and say what Lorenz wanted to hear in order to get him to buzz off. “Duly noted. Although if you have any complaints about Duke Riegan, you should take it up with him. Not his nephew, who lives in a small village far away from the capital. Now if you excuse me, I believe I heard my lunch calling for me.”

“Must you think of food at a time like this?” Lorenz scowled.

“Hey, if you want to keep lecturing me, you can join me in the dining hall.”

“I’ll join you, Claude! That lunch is calling for me, too!” Raphael exclaimed in a booming voice.

“Eh, why not. I’ll come along too.”

“This looks like fun. Count me in as well!”

Claude didn’t mind that several others invited themselves along. Their presence dissuaded Lorenz from joining, much to his relief. The Golden Deer, minus Lorenz, wound up in a large room with a table long enough to accomodate all of them and their platters of food. 

As everyone seated themselves and struck up a conversation with each other, Claude lamented the fact that he couldn't sneak food to Byleth like earlier this morning. Now that the other inhabitants of the house came back, it will be a lot harder to move unnoticed. Not only will he have to plan things in advance, he'll have to make sure that every minute he spent with the harpy was productive. If he dawdled too long in the wyvern aviary, people were bound to notice and ask questions.

Still, he kept up appearances during the lunch he spent with his allies. Then, once their meal was done, he had to attend to actual business. Most of it involved paperwork he could manage in his office by himself, but some details had to be sorted out with other people. His various obligations ended up taking a lot more time than he thought they would, and it wasn't until later in the evening that Claude got enough free time to visit the Byleth and Vaida. 

When he entered the room, he found the harpy sitting next to his sleeping wyvern. She had stacked pebbles into a neat little pile, and was now trying to incorporate bones into her structure. Claude wondered for a brief moment where she got the bones from, then his eyes rested upon the nearby cattle carcass. One of the servants must have dropped that off while he was away. And in this case, it was literally dropped off. Since no one but Claude could enter Vaida’s room through the front doors, the wyvern feeders had to open up the hole in the ceiling and unceremoniously dump food through it. That also meant that Claude had to take care of other duties that the servants couldn’t accomplish, like mucking and watering. He didn’t mind it so badly, since he did this to keep everyone else safe, and it worked out well in the end. He wound up with a private room of sorts that was perfect for hiding something like a harpy.

Speaking of which, it looked like Byleth helped herself to Vaida’s cow, judging from the blood around her talons and mouth. The fact that she could eat raw meat didn’t surprise Claude, as it was obvious in hindsight. He instead regretted the effort he went through in order to procure some meat buns for her.

“Hey.” He called out to attract her attention. As soon as Byleth looked up, the bone that was balanced on top of the stack of pebbles fell over. She glanced down at her ruined masterpiece sadly. Claude made a mental reminder to give her something else to occupy her time. If he was in her position, he would have gone crazy out of boredom already.

“How are you feeling now?”

“Good.” Byleth replied back, much to his surprise. She went the entirety of their last session without speaking, leading him to forget that she could actually talk.

But he recovered from his shock quickly enough to pull a small bag from his shirt. “It looks like you’ve already eaten, but I got more food for you.” From that bag, Claude procured a meat bun to show to Byleth, whose mournful expression turned into a delighted one. She immediately snatched the snack out of his hands and devoured it in a single bite. 

“You know, when someone gives you something, it’s polite to say thank you.” Claude said with a smile. He was just messing with her, of course. He didn’t expect her to take his advice seriously.

But she did. “Thank you.” Byleth muttered in between bites.

“You’re welcome. Help yourself.” Claude set the bag in front of Byleth, but not before he stole a bun for himself. It sounded like the harpy was more receptive to conversation now, which means this should be a more fruitful meeting. While he leisurely munched away on his one bun, Byleth stuffed herself with several more. It wasn’t until the bag was emptied and torn apart that she calmed down enough for Claude to speak.

“Were you seen when someone dropped off Vaida’s food from the ceiling?” Claude gestured towards the hole above them. He could see the encroaching orange and purple hue of dusk through the mesh door.

Byleth shook her head. Of course she wasn’t seen. If someone had noticed here, there would be chaos throughout the compound.

“That’s good. Don’t let anyone besides me see you.”

“Why?” Byleth asked with such child-like innocence, Claude was disarmed for a moment. He almost answered truthfully, but reigned himself in at the last second.

“People don’t like things that are different.” He opted for an incomplete truth. “Especially when that thing can swoop down from the skies and tear humans apart with their razor sharp talons.”

Byleth glanced down her own talons with a flicker of guilt and confusion. Claude felt like he had to retract his statement. “Not that I’m saying that you’re the kind of harpy to do so. Actually, I never got to thank you for saving my life yesterday. So thank you. And I have to ask, why did you do that?”

More confusion registered on her face. For some reason, her eyes darted to the side before she spoke. “I… am not sure why.”

Claude propped his head on the knuckles of his right hand. “So you just chanced upon me and felt like saving me? Or did you want to eat the bandit and saving me was a fortunate side-effect?”

“No. I didn’t want to eat him.” Byleth shook her head. “It’s… I can’t explain why.”

As eager as he was for answers, he knew when to stop pushing someone for them. If he badgered Byleth too much, she might clam up and refuse to talk about anything else. He just had to leave it there for now and move onto a different topic.

“Are you able to tell me what you were doing before you found me? Just out of curiosity.”

Byleth opened her mouth, then closed it. She shifted her gaze to the side again for the briefest of moments before answering. “If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?”

“Aha! Taken an interest in me, haven’t you?” Claude winked. “I can’t blame you for that. People either say I’m quite charming or downright annoying. It depends on who you ask.”

She just gave him a blank stare. Claude tossed his head, pretending that he didn’t just tell her a joke that fell flat. “I’ll be happy to answer your questions to the best of my abilities. In fact, it’ll be like a game of sorts. If you can come out of this with the answers you want, you win.”

And if he could divulge the least amount of information about himself, then that would make him more of a winner. He wasn’t like this harpy who trusted anyone who showed a shred of kindness. Claude endeavored to keep his secrets from _everyone_. If he could tell her that, he would also tell her to not take it too personally.

“That is acceptable. Should I answer first, then?”

“Please do. And then after that, you can ask me two questions.”

Byleth tapped a wing talon against her cheek. “What was I doing before I met you…? I think I hunted and flew around, mostly.”

That didn’t answer much. Claude resisted the urge to ask her more questions to clarify her vague response. He had to wait for Byleth’s questions, like they decided upon. Byleth paused before letting her questions spill forth from her lips.

“My two questions are: Who are you, and where are we?"

"Those are actually two very good questions." And by good questions, he meant questions that could make him reveal more than he wanted to. He had to keep things simple. "I am Claude von Riegan, nephew of Duke Riegan. I introduced you to the von Riegan manor earlier this morning, but I suppose it's not technically _the_ von Riegan manor. My uncle's house in Derdriu is the bigger deal. This cozy little mansion sits in Cornwall, a village in the Riegan Dukedom and smack dab in the middle of the Leicester Alliance."

"What's the Leicester Alliance?" Byleth blurted out.

"If you want that answer, you have to answer my next question first." Claude smirked. But the fact that she asked that was very telling. It most likely meant that she wasn't from around here.

"I'm surprised that you don't know what the Alliance is, though. It's only one of the three major ruling powers of Fodlan, after all. How did you wind up here without knowing where you are?"

Byleth averted her gaze once more. It took awhile for her to respond. "I… am not sure."

"That's not much of an answer." Claude sighed. "If we want to keep the game going, you got to tell me a little bit more."

"I'm sorry. I honestly can't remember much." Byleth squeezed her eyes closed like she was in deep concentration. "All I recall is waking up at a river's edge, about a week ago."

Claude paused. She must be talking about the Airmid River, a river that flowed from the Oghma Mountains, separated the Leicester Alliance from the Adrestian Empire, and emptied into the eastern seas. Since it covered a wide area of Fodlan, it wasn't very useful in determining where Byleth was actually from. Although Claude had a hunch that she came from the west, and was carried eastward when she fell asleep in the river somehow?

No. She couldn't have fallen asleep. Whoever heard of someone sleeping in a river and then waking up all fine and dandy? Byleth must have been injured at some point to the point of unconsciousness, although Claude didn't see any other injuries besides the ones she sustained protecting him.

But not all injuries were visible. He got the feeling that Byleth's patchy memory was due to whatever knocked her unconscious and into the river. That didn't bode well for either of them. Not only did Byleth lose her sense of self, Claude probably wouldn't get all the answers he wanted out of her.

The harpy cleared her throat. Right. She was still expecting his reply to her earlier question. Even though some mysteries will have to remain unsolved, she still has other answers he can ruminate on for the time being.

"So, the Leicester Alliance." Claude continued on as if his mind wasn't spinning with thoughts just a second ago. "It's a coalition of nobles that work together to rule the eastern lands of Fodlan. And in case you didn't know, Fodlan is the name of the land we stand on."

He figured that he should give Byleth a freebie answer. Otherwise he would be here for the rest of the night, explaining things that were common knowledge to him. Byleth didn't give any indication that she recognized the name Fodlan.

"The Leicester Alliance is governed by a roundtable that meets in its capital, Derdriu. There are five main noble houses of the roundtable: Goneril, Gloucester, Ordelia, Edmund, and Riegan. The house of yours truly is the leader of the roundtable, so that kinda makes me akin to royalty."

There was something on Byleth's mind when he said that last part. He could tell that she was deep in thought with how her eyes shifted. "If you're like royalty, then how did you end up at the mercy of a bandit?" 

"That is another good question." An astute question, even. One that he didn't expect from someone who seemed mostly confused all the time. "I'm the head of the Golden Deer, a peacekeeping militia employed by the Alliance roundtable. We partake in missions all across the land, including where you found me."

Claude didn't realize that he had answered her second question in the row without asking his own until he finished his reply. He sought to correct that quickly. "So now it's my turn. It's obvious you aren't from around here, yet you have a pretty good grasp on the Fodlan language. Who taught you how to speak?"

Byleth fidgeted in place while she tried to remember her nebulous past. "I… don't know. I think I was always fluent."

"How about reading? Can you read?"

"That's another question."

"Alright, so you get another question too. After you answer mine."

"I'm not sure if I can read." Byleth replied almost immediately. "I would need to try to do so first."

"Well, considering that you couldn't use a fork or spoon, I kinda doubt that you can read. No offense, but reading is a lot harder than holding a simple tool." Claude shrugged. "I'll bring you a book the next time I drop by, as well as other things to keep you entertained."

Byleth nodded in appreciation. Judging from how long it took for her to speak up again, she must be running out of questions to ask. That meant that Claude didn't have much time left to dig for more answers. He might have to make his next few questions count.

She still glanced to the side before saying anything. "What kind of people are in the Golden Deer?

"All sorts. We got commoners, merchants, and nobles. They all are actually friends from a military academy I went to several years ago, and they liked me so much that they eagerly signed up when I first proposed this idea."

"Really?"

"Heh. For the most part." He wasn't even lying. Sure, some of the members of Golden Deer may have their own reasons for joining besides loyalty for Claude, but as long as they willingly followed him into battle, that was all he could ask for.

"As for my next question, where did you get that chestplate? Harpies don't usually wear clothes you know."

"Where did you hear that?" Byleth asked while glancing down at her singular piece of armor. She must not have realized that this was unusual, which was a noteworthy fact in and of itself.

"I'll answer that when you answer my question." Honestly, Claude should just give up on the game at this point. Byleth seemed to be ignoring its only rule most of the time by answering questions with another question.

"I don't know where I got this. I don't remember."

"You don't seem to remember anything." Claude sounded dejected.

"Sorry."

"It's not really your fault, I suppose. To answer your previous question, I learned about it from a book on harpies. Although it's not very accurate. There's a ton of things that were already disproven after talking to you. Still, I'll bring it in to show you. Maybe you'll get a laugh out of it."

"I don't know if I can read."

"You don't have to read. The pictures themselves are priceless. I don't think the author has ever met a harpy, especially one like you."

Byleth turned her head away. Was that a blush on her face, accompanied by a faint smile? Claude couldn't help but smile himself. That cute display of emotions made him reconsider his next question, which was going to ask her if he could take a closer look at her armor. That might lead to some undressing, which would make Byleth more flustered, which wasn't exactly what Claude needed at the moment.

Instead, he had to get straight to the point. "Isn't there at least something you remember? Believe me when I say that I'm not trying to interrogate you. I want to help you find out your past, or at least where you came from so you can return home."

Byleth closed her eyes and remained silent for several long seconds. From the look on her face, it seemed like she was reluctant to say something, which made Claude all the more curious. Eventually, she fluttered her eyes open and met his gaze.

"There is… was… a human. He taught me how to use a spoon, once."

"He?" Claude said instinctively.

"I think he was a he." Byleth's eyes and voice did not falter. "I don't recall anything else about him."

"Well that's a start, at least." Claude gave her a small, reassuring smile. "I bet that same human taught you how to speak Fodlanese, and gave you that chestplate. Now we just need to find him, which is easier said than done. I don't think he will make his involvement with you obvious."

"Why not?" Byleth's tone shifted from a forlorn one to a more naive one.

"Others would think of him as a weirdo at best, and a traitor at worst, I suppose."

"So what does that make you?"

"Me?" Claude placed a hand on his heart, like he was wounded by her question. "I'm surprised you haven't already figured out that I'm a weirdo. Although, we have only known each other for a day."

"I don't think you're weird."

“Aw, you flatter me.” Claude knew she just said that to make him feel better, yet her words warmed her heart. Would she still feel the same if she knew more about him? He didn’t want to chance anything by finding out.

“Anyway, I’ve gotten all the answers I’ve wanted, so the game is over for now.” He stood up and stretched his body. That was a lie, but he didn’t think he was able to extract anything else out of an amnesiac harpy. Besides, unresolved mysteries kept things more exciting. Talking to Byleth wouldn’t nearly be as fun if he knew everything about her.

“But you still have some questions left to ask me.” Byleth protested, much to both his astonishment and amusement.

“Hm, I think I’ll hold onto to those for now, and use them later.” Claude said nonchalantly. “Unless, there’s anything else you want to tell me? If you remember another juicy tidbit of your past, I’ll count it towards your debt…”

Byleth glanced away from Claude for some reason. He noticed she did that several times throughout their conversation, and he assumed that she couldn’t maintain eye contact out of nervousness. But she didn’t look that afraid when she averted her gaze. It seemed like she was anticipating something from where she was staring at, and had found what she was expecting when she nodded at thin air after a moment's hesitation.

“There’s a girl who lives in my head.”

“... Say what now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh this is probably the weakest chapter I've written so far because I needed some exposition to get the ball rolling. I promise that the next chapters are more interesting.
> 
> Also like the rest of the internet, I got the new Animal Crossing game. I'm still working on future chapters but if my updates slow down, you know why lmao.


	5. A Personal Testimony to Harpies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude shares some books from his personal collection.

A ball made of tightly wound fabric scraps flew into the air, where it lingered for a split second before falling towards the ground. Byleth caught it expertly with her left wing talons. She then flung it upwards again, propelling it further than last time. The ball landed in her talons once more. If she had use of both of her wings, she might be able to toss her toy all the way up to the hole in the ceiling. But for now, she had to entertain herself by testing how far she could throw it, and how many times in the row she could catch it. Byleth’s best streak was 17 consecutive balls caught and her record for distance was up to the second highest window, about the same height as four of her bodies stacked on top of each other.

Although Byleth was amused, Sothis was not. The strange child floated in her own corner, watching the harpy’s simple game with a disapproving stare. Sothis manifested herself for Byleth’s eyes only in order to help her during her conversation with Claude yesterday. But ever since then, she had been downright unhelpful, with her pointed remarks and judgemental attitude.

“Are you done yet?” She asked with a whine. That snide question distracted Byleth long enough for her to miss the ball completely. It bounced off her head and rolled into the sand.

 _“You broke my streak.”_ Byleth mourned in her head.

“You’ve been playing with that ball for the last half hour!” Sothis laid herself down while still floating, so that her chin rested on her arms while her legs kicked up in the air. “You may be having fun, but I’ve grown incredibly bored by watching your simple game. Why not come up with something different that I could partake in?”

Byleth glanced over to the small pile of stuff Claude left her. Their gracious host had dropped by earlier this morning to take Vaida out for some exercise and to give Byleth some toys to keep her busy. He claimed to be coming back later, in order to discuss Sothis among other things, but that was at least several hours ago. His long departure wasn’t much of a problem for Byleth, who was easily entertained by anything remotely interesting. However, Sothis couldn’t have any meaningful interactions with any of the toys, and voiced her frustrations with increasing frequency. 

The harpy stared down at the ball in her hand. _“I could throw this at you and you could try dodging it.”_

“What kind of game is that?!” Sothis bolted upright, her wings perking up in shock.

 _“It won’t hurt you. If the ball hits you, it will go right through you.”_

“That doesn’t mean I like having projectiles hurled my way!”

_“This is the only game I can think of that involves you.”_

“Well, think harder! Such an idea would only be worthwhile for me if I could also throw the ball at you!”

Some movement outside interrupted their inane conversation. Byleth froze, wondering if she needed to hide somewhere. Claude did say he was the only person with access to this room, but that didn’t mean someone could notice her somehow. Luckily, her fears were unfounded as the door swung open to reveal Claude and Vaida.

“Heya. I see you’re having fun.” Claude noted the ball in Byleth’s talon. Sothis let out a scoff. Byleth, meanwhile, was fixated on the bloody deer corpse that hung in the white wyvern’s jaws. The way it shook while Vaida settled into her sandy next was tantalizing, and she found her mouth watering at the thought of sinking her teeth into it.

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” Claude shifted his attention to Byleth’s hungry stare. “Food that’s given to Vaida may be fair game, but she’ll maul anyone that tries to take her catch from her. I got you something else, though.”

He handed her an equally bloody bag. Byleth opened it up and discovered a pair of freshly caught rabbits at its bottom. She dumped the bodies into the sand and ravaged them with her talons and teeth. Neither a shred of fur nor a shard of bone remained after she was done with them. Sothis watched the gruesome spectacle with interest, not minding the carnage at all. 

“This boy appears to be an accomplished hunter.” She commented. Byleth responded with a burp.

Claude however, seemed to be a bit repulsed by Byleth’s ferocity. He averted his gaze, only speaking to her once she finished. “How is your wing doing today? Are you feeling any sort of pain?”

“My wing is fine.” Byleth shot a glance towards her splinted wing. The pain had mostly subsided at this point, leaving behind a dull throbbing that she could ignore. Still, Claude pulled out a bottle of something just for her.

“That’s good to hear. I got this healing concoction for you anyway. If you drink a bottle a day, it should speed up the healing process. Don’t give me that face. It isn’t as foul as the elixir I gave you before.”

Byleth grimaced while Claude explained its purpose. He popped open its cork and passed it to Byleth, who ended up taking it in a gentle manner, like it was going to shatter in her talons at any moment. She sniffed it, blinked when the smell wasn’t as pungent as she assumed, and downed the fluid in one swift motion. The concoction tasted like earthy herbs that were bitter enough to give it a distinct flavor, but not bitter enough to make her want to retch. Unlike the elixir, it didn’t numb the pain in an instant, yet a feeling of relief washed over her anyway.

“See? What did I tell you?” Claude smiled at how readily she drank it. “Even if you didn’t like it, you better get used to taking it everyday anyway. Otherwise you’ll be stuck here for a long time.” 

He paused for a moment, like something just occurred to him. “Just wondering, do you like cooked food or raw food better?” 

Byleth hummed. She didn’t really have a particular preference, and it was hard to put her thoughts into words. “I like both. I like the blood of raw food, and the warmth of cooked food.”

“So would something like sorbet be out of the question?”

“What’s sore-bay?” Byleth glanced towards Sothis for guidance. The girl just shrugged in response.

“It’s like fruit-flavored ice. I know it sounds like a weird combination, but I think it’s pretty good. The next time the kitchen staff makes some, I’ll share some with you.”

Personally, Byleth didn’t think it sounded appetizing. She was fond of fruit, especially the juicy ones that dribbled down her chin, but she couldn’t imagine it tasting just as good when it was cold. With a start, she realized that Claude hadn’t given her any fruit since she got here, and whatever memory of fruits she ate came from her past. Yet, when she tried to recall more, her mind grasped at nothing.

Claude was cleaning up after Vaida and Byleth while the latter reminisced upon fruit. The silence between them didn’t last very long, as Claude eventually had to speak up about the matters on his mind.

“I’ve been digging into this Sothis girl that apparently only you could see and talk to.” He said while literally digging a shovel into some dirty sand. Claude was noticeably calmer than when Byleth told him about her yesterday. He didn’t believe her at first, but after she described Sothis to him in more detail, he ended up accepting her strange tale. 

Most noticeably, his interest piqued when she told him that Sothis had a pair of wings along with a pair of arms. Claude didn’t know how that was possible, as no such beings existed, and he still didn’t have any answers for Byleth today. “I couldn’t find anyone with her name and appearance in my books. The closest hint I found was in an old religious text that called the goddess of Fodlan Sothis.”

“A goddess?!” Sothis’s exclaimation only fell on Byleth’s ears.

“But it seems highly improbable to me that your little ghost girl is the progenitor god.” Claude continued on, blissfully unaware of said girl’s high-pitched shrill. “Firstly, the religious text I spoke of is regarded as non-canon among the church. There’s a lot more heretical ideas in here than a strange name for the goddess. Secondly, the goddess is commonly depicted as a, ah, fully developed human woman with chestnut brown hair. No wings or pointy ears in sight. And finally, it just doesn’t make sense that a harpy would have a goddess worshipped by humans living in their head. And that’s when we ignore the big question of _how_ she got there.”

His explanation sent Sothis into a contemplative state. She tapped her cheek with a finger while her wings wrapped around her like a cloak. “Those are all very good points. Not to mention that if I was a goddess, I would surely remember more than what I can recollect now. A deity does not simply succumb to amnesia like a mere mortal. No offense to you, Byleth.”

 _“None taken.”_ She responded back silently.

“Well? Did Sothis say anything?” Claude glanced towards where Byleth’s vacant stare pointed to.

“She agrees with you.”

“As I thought. Still, this book might be the only lead we have, so I’ll do a bit more research through it. Too bad the author has been lost to time. I would love to pick their brain, and not just because they called the goddess Sothis.

"Oh, but speaking of books, I brought some to show you, like I said I would."

Claude pulled out another bag, this time filled with books of various shapes and sizes. Byleth was immediately attracted to the shiniest one, a tome with glimmering gold letters and patterns on its cover. When she opened it up, she was immediately greeted by an illustration of a brown-haired woman in an elegant white dress, lillies in her hair, and a flowing pink scarf wrapped around her arms and shoulders. The lady attended to her unending crowd of followers, which consisted of robed humans and an assortment of animals. Byleth realized with a pang of disappointment that there was not a single harpy among their ranks.

"That woman does not bear any sort of resemblance to me at all." Sothis hovered curiously next to Byleth. "Nor does she seem familiar."

Claude noticed the book she was holding and placed a hand on it like he was going to yank it out of her claws. "I didn’t think this one would interest you. It's an illustrated text of the Church of the Goddess, the main religion of Fodlan. I brought it here in case you want to look at the pictures, but I don't know if you can understand what they mean without reading the story behind them."

Byleth wisely chose not to tell him she picked this one because the cover was shiny. She instead shifted her focus from the ornate illustration to the letters to the side of it. The harpy studied the delicate curves and loops diligently. The longer she stared at those words, the more she recognized them. Yet her comprehension came in bits and pieces, and she could not for the life of her parse them together. Her frustration built up so gradually, Byleth didn’t realize that her talons were digging into the page, threatening to tear a hole in it. 

"What's up? Do you remember how to read?" Claude noticed how intently she stared at the book.

Byleth gave up and shook her head. If she forced herself any further, she was just going to wind up with a headache.

"That's a shame. But maybe you need to start with something else. Like this." Claude procured another book from his bag. This one was obviously well read, judging from its mottled brown cover and dog-eared pages. On its front were simple, blocky letters that resonated with Byleth more than the ornate cursive text she tried to read earlier. One particular letter stood out to her, and its pronunciation was on the tip of her tongue.

"A." She said proudly after much scrutinizing.

"Yup. There's an 'A' in the title." There was no hint of sarcasm in Claude's voice, which Byleth appreciated. "Can you read anything else?"

He handed the book to Byleth so she could look at it more closely. The letters were definitely recognizable, but she couldn't figure out how to pronounce them when strung together as a single word, nor could she determine what they meant. Her eyes glossed over several long words and focused on the next shortest word in the title.

"To."

"You skipped a bunch of other words, but you're doing a good job otherwise. Keep going."

The last word of the title burned with familiarity, but it also seemed different than how she remembered it. Her mouth hung open as she whispered the first part of the word in an uncertain tone.

"Har… har…"

"Harpies." Sothis piped up. "This book is about harpies."

"Harpies?" Byleth repeated after Sothis. As Claude had no way of knowing that someone else provided the answer to her, he assumed that she came up with that all on her own and excitedly clapped his hands.

"You did it! You pronounced a word with more than one syllable!" He cheered. Byleth wasn't sure if that was a genuine compliment or not, but she didn't get a chance to express her thanks because Claude launched into a tirade right afterwards.

"This book is titled 'Under a Shared Sky: Sir Hanneman's Personal Testimony to Harpies'. Not only is it a lengthy title, it also has some complicated words and someone's name in it. So if you managed to pronounce the whole thing, I would have been very impressed."

He opened up the book and started thumbing through the pages. Some of them, Byleth noticed, were marked with hand-written scrawls, and others were bookmarked with scraps of paper. Claude must have perused this book very frequently. No wonder it looked like it was about to fall apart.

"This is the book I was telling you about yesterday. Despite being a 'personal testimony', the author didn't really meet with a harpy on an intimate level." Claude spoke up without tearing his eyes away from the book. "Most of the time, he talked about the stories he heard about harpies from people all over Fodlan. It's only during the last few chapters that he encounters one, and that didn't end well for either of them."

"What happened?" Byleth asked.

"Do you want spoilers?" Claude replied back, sounding as if he couldn't believe what she just asked. "Cause I thought we could read this book together, and see if we can brush up your reading skills."

"Does he expect us to read through the entire thing?" Sothis eyed the thick tome warily.

Byleth didn't share her hesitation. She found herself desperate to learn what people besides Claude thought of harpies, even if she might regret it later. The sheer volume of the book didn't scare her away.

Still, she relayed Sothis's question to Claude, who shrugged in response. "I suppose it is a bit much. Most of it is just fluff about travelling around and meeting people anyway. I'll skip to the good parts."

He laid down the book, which was open to a hand-drawn picture of a large bird creature with a woman's head and chest. Her snarling face was grotesque, looking more monstrous than human with the blood dripping from her fangs. The talons on her wings and feet were also bloodstained from the mangled carcass she was perched on. Byleth suddenly became mindful of the blood smeared on her face while she ate the rabbits. She tried to rub it off inconspicuously.

"'This is an artistic interpretation of the half-bird, half-woman creature known colloquially as the harpy. Like other animals, an individual harpy can have unique characteristics that distinguish it from others, but there are certain fundamental features that remain consistent among specimens. Harpies have a human head and upper body, with the wings, legs, and tail of a bird.' Aaaand the rest is pretty self-explanatory. I mean, you're a harpy, so you know that this picture is completely inaccurate."

Byleth nodded, her gaze still transfixed on the warped image of her likeness. The harpy the author drew was much more bird-like in demeanor. It didn't stand up straight, it didn’t hold its wings like arms, and its blank gaze held no signs of intelligence. Was this how humans perceived her kind? No wonder Claude told her it wasn't safe to leave this room.

"What's more interesting are the abilities of a harpy that he lists in the next chapter. Listen to this." Claude flipped to another page. "'Every fluid that a harpy secretes is hazardous to humans. Their blood, their saliva, even their excretions are corrosive enough to burn a person's skin. No doubt their acidic properties come from the obscene amount of meat they eat, combined with their unique gut.' Now, I know that's not true just from being with you, since you haven't burned me yet. But what about this next part?"

Another page flip. "'Some humors of the harpy may have some fascinating usage. There is an old wives' tale in the Empire that harpy blood, mixed with a brew of rare herbs, can create an elixir that promotes longevity. Of course, as harpy blood is dangerous in its raw form, the results of documented experimentations are inconclusive at best.' "

"As it should be." Sothis stated with a scowl. "Imagine if harpy blood can grant long life! We would undoubtedly be hunted to extinction for such a commodity."

 _"You're not a harpy."_ Byleth thought.

"Well I'm certainly not a human either."

Claude's continued reading interrupted their short-lived conversation. " 'A more substantiated claim lies within a harpy's saliva. A harpy can secrete a special oil in its mouth that, when applied to its feathers, hardens them and sharpens their edges. These oil-ladened feathers can slice through a knight's armor with impunity. In addition, a harpy can launch such feathers from their wings, showering foes in a rain of dagger-like projectiles.'

"Now, I've never seen a harpy shoot feathers around like arrows, but that was before I met you. Do you think that's true?"

Byleth glanced down at her non-broken wing. She considered what was told to her for a moment, then shook her head. "I can't shoot feathers like that. I also wouldn't be able to fly if I lost too many feathers."

But there was a kernel of truth in that passage. It seemed to have awakened some previously dormant instinct. She slowly raised the talons on her broken wing up to her mouth, startling Claude.

"Hey, no need to hurt yourself to prove a theory!" He exclaimed.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Unless you want to put your fingers in my mouth…?"

Claude sputtered and hid his face so she wouldn't see the blush on it. Sothis cackled in the background, but also chided her for her dumb question. Byleth paid no mind to either of them and sucked on the tips of her claws. When she pulled them away from her lips, they glistened with a weird sheen that couldn't have come from saliva alone. She then combed through the primary feathers on her other wing until they shone. She tested her newly sharpened feathers by stroking their edges, which emitted a quiet, metallic ring upon contact with her talons.

Byleth stood up and scanned the room. There wasn't anything around that she could slice. Claude seemed to have read her body language, as he got up to leave the room. He came back a few seconds later with an empty wooden crate.

"You can try your feathers on this." He told her with an almost child-like enthusiasm. Byleth unconsciously shifted into a fighting stance as she held up her honed wing. With a flick of her arm and a twist of her shoulder, her razor-sharp feathers slashed through the wood in one fluid motion. Half of the box fell to the ground so cleanly, there weren't any splinters left behind.

"Whoa." Claude gasped. He ran outside to grab more boxes. "Can you do that again? Slowly, this time, so I can figure out how you did it."

Byleth complied. Every time she swung her wing, a sense of nostalgia washed over her. This ritual was not only familiar to her, it was also comforting in a way. She could almost envision someone standing in front of her, blade in hands, swinging his arms the same way she swung hers. The corners of his lips turned upwards into a smile, and then he parted them to praise her, but she could not for the life of her remember what he said.

The memory faded away, revealing the remains of the crates she massacred. Claude let out a low whistle as he clapped his hands.

"That. Was. Incredible! I've never seen anything like it! And believe me, I've seen a lot of things."

"It was nothing." Byleth felt a little uneasy being applauded for something that came almost instinctively to her. Yet she resisted the urge to take a bow.

"No really. Don't be sheepish about this. I thought that since harpies were aerial hunters, they would be more graceful in the skies than on the ground. But you moved like a natural. I bet once your other wing heals up, you'll be able to fight like a dual-wielding swordmaster. I can't wait to see that!"

"He has a point." Sothis piped up. "I don't believe this sort of talent is innate in harpies. Although I wonder how he became a good judge of that…?"

Claude asked another question before Byleth could ponder about Sothis's. "Do you think your skills are courtesy of your human friend?" 

"I think so." 

"So your friend is an adept sword fighter. That narrows down the list of possibilities quite a bit." Claude murmured. "But not enough. You have to let me know if you remember anything else. The sooner you can get back home, the better."

Byleth nodded in response. She understood his urgency, as each time she remembered something, she found herself wanting more. But just wanting her memories back wasn't enough to get them back. She would have to continue learning new things from Claude in order to facilitate their return, which she admittedly didn't mind at all.

"There is something else that's bothering me." Sothis floated over to the open book and stroked its pages. Her fingers phased through it, as expected, but she continued 'touching' the book anyway. "The author speaks as if harpies are a rare breed that ordinarily doesn't interact with humans, and any interactions between the two races aren't exactly fruitful. Why would I assume that? Well, if humans and harpies could talk peacefully like you and Claude, there wouldn't be factually incorrect books that paint harpies in a horrendous light. Are we the outliers? Or is there a different reason for this animosity that Claude has yet to divulge? You must pry the truth from him!"

Byleth had no idea where to even start with that. She glanced towards Claude, who paid no heed to Sothis's ghostly touch and flipped through the pages looking for something. She figured that the best way to ask him was to be direct, because that seemed to be how she always approached things.

"Claude."

"Yes, Byleth?" He tore his attention away from the book.

"Why do humans hate harpies?" 

"That's-" Claude couldn't get past his initial shock. He recoiled as if she just sprouted horns from her head. "Hate is a strong word. Like I mentioned before, people fear things that are different, especially if said things are dangerous."

"Yes, I remember his warning from yesterday." Sothis sighed. "But this goes beyond fear of the unknown. Tell him that there must be a more concrete reason for this fear mongering."

When Byleth repeated what Sothis told her, Claude narrowed his eyes at the empty space next to her. "Is Sothis the one asking all these questions?"

"Yes. And she is floating over here." Byleth patted the ground beside the book. Sothis shot her a dirty look. 

"Well, Sothis, for a ghost, you are pretty perceptive." Claude thumbed through his tome again. "I suppose it's not just fear that makes books like these. There are stories of harpies attacking humans. Those that survive exaggerate many details, including the reason why they were attacked. In my humble opinion, these people were maybe intruding on harpy territory, or a shortage of resources forced the two species into conflict. But according to numerous stories collected in this book, the humans were attacked unprovoked. And really, it's easy to assume that harpies are vicious monsters with an insatiable bloodlust when no one takes the time to talk to each other. When both sides are fighting for their lives.

"You know what the worst part is?" Claude spread the book open to reveal a map that folded out of it. The shape of the continent was vaguely familiar to Byleth. He pointed at the triangular symbols that marked the prominent mountain ranges across the land. "There used to be harpy flocks in the highlands all across Fodlan. The Oghma Mountains, Fodlan's Fangs, the Sacred Gwenhwyvar, Morgaine Ravine, Fodlan’s Throat. But as human and harpy populations grew larger, fighting broke out more and more frequently. In the end, the humans won enough battles to wipe out most of the harpy populations in Fodlan. The biggest flock now resides in Fodlan's Throat and beyond, where normal humans can't transverse. Even so, skirmishes still break out over territory disputes. The Leicester Alliance built a massive fortress to guard Fodlan's Throat, aptly called Fodlan's Locket, to keep the harpies out of our land."

Byleth listened to Claude's lecture in stunned silence. She had no idea of the bloody relationship between humans and harpies. She supposed that a normal harpy would be distraught about the fate of her brethrens, yet she found herself without grief or anger. That indifference was written plainly on Byleth's face, which Claude noticed.

"You don't seem too broken up over this." He remarked.

"It's not like I don't care. It's just… I don't remember anything about these flocks." Byleth shrugged.

"I suppose that's fair. It can be hard to empathize with something you learned about in a book." Claude also shrugged. "You know, considering that my lecture didn't bring up any new memories, maybe you weren't born to one of the flocks of Fodlan."

"Maybe." Byleth replied simply. She couldn't recall anything pertinent, so she had nothing else to add.

Sothis, however, had another thought. "You may not have strong feelings on the matter, but Claude sounded pretty upset when he talked about what happened. Why do you suppose that is, when his kind became the stewards of the land? See if you can coax that answer out of him with your usual charm."

Byleth once again had no idea how to phrase herself, but she tried her best. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Claude raised an eyebrow.

"You sounded upset while you were talking about what happened between harpies and humans."

"Did I?" Any hint of Claude's frustration melted away with a smile. "I didn't mean to rant about history when you're supposed to be learning how to read. It's just… if other humans and harpies could have a civil conversation like we're doing now, there wouldn't be so few harpies in Fodlan, and humans wouldn't have to live in fear of them. Not to mention how much we might gain from learning from each other."

"True." Byleth nodded slightly. "But perhaps our kind will always fight, and we may just be special cases. I have amnesia, and you are, as you said, a weirdo."

"Hey! No need to start calling me that! I actually liked it when you didn't think I was weird!" Despite his exuberance, his smile diminished in a barely perceptible way.

"Anyway, I don't think that harpies and humans are natural enemies or anything of the sort. The author of this book did include some positive stories about harpies. They aren't nearly enough to change the public's perception, but at least it's something. He also mentioned at the end of the book that he was going to seek out the remaining flocks of Fodlan harpies to learn more about them, but who knows how that expedition is going. It's been 21 years since this book was published after all."

"He's probably dead by now." Byleth said with her usual tact. Sothis slapped a hand against her own forehead.

"Wow, you don't sugarcoat things, do you?" Claude chuckled.

Byleth wisely decided to stray away from the topic she brought up. "Do you also wish to change people's view on harpies for the better?" 

"Is that another question from Sothis?"

"No. It's from me."

"Color me surprised." Claude smirked. She wasn't sure whether she was being complimented or insulted. "Let's just say that it may be a difficult goal, but after meeting you, I'm more motivated to make it happen."

"Oh?" Byleth didn't know how to respond to that. He sounded as if there was something else on his mind, something that she couldn’t parse out of his words.

"But I haven’t actually done anything yet, so nevermind that." Claude closed the book with a soft thud. "In retrospect, reading a book about harpies to you was a terrible idea. Besides all the grim and depressing stuff, it's also way too technical. How about we start again with something easier? I have a kid's book about the Golden Deer somewhere in here…"

While he rifled through his book bag, Sothis commented on how quick he was to change the subject. Byleth just wanted to know what kind of story this Golden Deer book would contain. She was curious about Claude's other friends ever since he brought them up the other day. So she ended up slightly disappointed when Claude showed her a book with a literal golden-colored deer on the cover. He must have sensed her confusion, because he let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. 

"Were you thinking of my allies? I'm sure our antics as the Golden Deer could fill up hundreds of children's books, but this novel is about the mythical creature that protects the Leicester Alliance. Are you still interested in reading it?"

Byleth nodded. She and Sothis schooched closer so they could see the words and accompanying illustrations. As soon as they settled down next to him, Claude cleared his throat and began.

"Once upon a time, in a deep, dark forest…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the foreshadowing came out more obvious than I intended, so if you have any guesses about future plot points they're probably right. :P


	6. A Broken Statue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth and Sothis go on an adventure.

After that day, Claude’s subsequent visits were much shorter. He couldn’t spend a lot of time with Byleth due to the amount of work he had, but he at least continued her reading lessons. Even though his tutoring lessons were kept brief, she still improved by leaps and bounds, mostly because she remembered a lot more than she expected. Byleth must have been oddly well-read in her past life. By the end of the week, she became literate enough to be able to read The Tale of the Golden Deer all by herself, and worked diligently to comprehend more complicated books.

Still, she tired herself from staring at words all the time. Claude ended up teaching Byleth other things that would entertain her while he was away. One such thing involved a deck of cards with colorful illustrations, numbers, and symbols. Byleth was flabbergasted at how many games could be derived from a simple deck, but she didn’t let her surprise keep her from learning all their rules at a rapid pace. She picked up these games just as quickly as she picked up reading, leading Claude to wonder if she also played cards in her past life.

The answer was no. The act of shuffling a deck or holding cards in her talons didn’t dredge up any forgotten memories. And if Byleth used to be an able player, she wouldn’t be so soundly beaten all the time.

She sought to sharpen her card-playing skills anyway. During a particularly dreary morning, she and Sothis sat across from each other while Vaida stretched her wings by flapping from perch to perch. As Sothis couldn’t touch her cards, Byleth propped her cards up with several large stones and picked out whatever card she pointed at. The ghostly girl’s inability to actually hold her hand didn’t seem to affect her skills at playing them, as evident by the much larger pebble pile by her side.

Byleth pushed out the entirety of her comparatively meager mound of rocks. Sothis matched her bet with her own, needing to take only a portion of her winnings. The green-haired girl was the kind of person to wear their emotions on their figurative sleeves, and her attitude didn’t change even while playing card games. She should have been an easy opponent to beat in a game that relied on reading the mood, especially when combined with Byleth’s constant stoicism, but Byleth found herself lacking in other necessary skills, such as knowing when to take risks and how not to fall into traps.

It was because of a bad move several turns back that she was forced into this situation. Now Byleth had to bet everything if she ever hoped to turn this around. She presented her hand to Sothis with a confident proclamation that she felt like saying out loud. “The King of Lions and his entourage of knights.” 

“My my. I didn’t know you were hiding such an impressive hand.” Sothis stared down at the proud and regal paladin, accompanied by four equally proud cavaliers. Byleth felt hope rising in her chest at Sothis’s surprise, then that hope was promptly dashed when a mischievous smile crept onto the girl’s face.

“But I win. Behold, the Five Saints of the Goddess!”

Sothis waved a hand at her propped-up cards. Byleth tipped them over to discover five regal cards, each adorned with the symbol of the Church. Such an illustrious hand was as difficult to acquire as it was to beat.

_ “How.” _ Byleth thought to Sothis.

“It was all because you decided to sacrifice poor Cethleann here in order to mitigate your earlier losses. Honestly, you should know better by now to always keep the future in mind.”

Byleth silently pouted as she pushed her remaining pebbles into Sothis’s stack. Now she definitely lost. That bitter sting of defeat wouldn’t have hurt so badly if it weren’t for her smug grin. 

Vaida landed on the ground in a flap of leathery wings that blew their cards away. Her descent could only mean one thing. The door opened up and revealed a smiling man holding a tray of food in one hand and a bag stained with mysterious liquid in the other. He had to quickly set down his possessions so that his wyvern wouldn’t knock them over when she ambled towards him and pressed her snout to his chest.

“Hey girl! Whoa, easy there!” Claude playfully pushed her head back so he wouldn’t get smothered. Once Vaida settled down, his green eyes were drawn to the conspicuously large pile of pebbles that were not next to Byleth.

“Good morning Byleth, Sothis. I see someone just lost another game of Four Factions.” He greeted them with a slight smirk.

Byleth chose not to respond to that. Her mood only brightened when Claude brought over the tray of food. Today’s breakfast consisted of a freshly baked meat pie and cornucopia of summer berries. She devoured them eagerly, letting the delicious flavors wash away the sourness of defeat.

“Don’t forget to take your concoction too.” Claude handed her another bottle of medicine. As Byleth gulped it down, he turned his attention to the pebble pile once more.

“I’m just wondering, how does Sothis see her cards?”

“I prop them up for her.” Supposedly, anyway. The cards were scattered about now, thanks to Vaida. Byleth went to gather them up after she had finished her breakfast.

“That’s not what I mean. She lives in your head, right? So theoretically, she should be viewing the world through your eyes. If you’re not looking at ‘her’ hand, how can she see her cards?”

Byleth froze while clutching a card in between two of her talons. It took a while to work through what Claude just said, but once she figured out what he was implying, she shot an accusatory look towards Sothis.

“Do not gaze upon me in such a fashion! I would never stoop to that level!” She protested loudly.

“Sothis says she didn’t cheat.” Byleth told Claude.

“Of course she would say that.” He sighed. “But let’s say she is telling the truth. Does that mean that she can see things that are beyond your scope of vision?”

Byleth glanced towards Sothis again, this time wearing an inquisitive expression. She shrugged in return. “I suppose that’s correct, although it does sound strange when he phrases it like that, doesn’t it?”

When she relayed the answer to Claude, he let out a soft chuckle and glanced towards where Byleth had glanced before. “You know, that could be an incredibly useful skill. Can Sothis go through walls and report what’s on the other side?”

“Unfortunately, I apparently cannot leave your field of vision.” Sothis said to Byleth. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Ah. That’s a shame.” Claude remarked nonchalantly when Byleth gave him Sothis’s response. “Still, there’s a lot of applications for the bond you two share. Not that I’m planning on using it or anything. I wouldn’t dream of putting you through anything dangerous.”

Sothis let out an unconvinced hmph. Byleth took his musings at face value and nodded. Although she did feel like she was more capable of handling danger than Claude thought.

“But as interesting as this is, I didn’t come here to talk about Sothis. I’m going to be gone for a day or so. There’s something outside of Cornwall I need to take care of. I’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, but in the meanwhile, I got some food to keep you fed.”

Claude unceremoniously dumped the contents of his big, lumpy bag to show Byleth what he managed to procure. Inside was a bloodied boar that appeared to be recently slain. Even though Byleth had just eaten, she couldn’t help but rip off a leg and start gnawing on it.

“This is supposed to last you throughout the rest of the day, you know.” Claude commented. “I’ll also refill the water trough before I leave. So all I need you to do is to stay put and make yourself scarce. Don’t make too much noise, and don’t answer anyone outside that door unless it’s me. Got it?”

Byleth nodded in between chomps. Once Claude made further preparations and ascertained that she was going to be fine by herself, he took Vaida by the reins and led her away. The door slammed behind him with an echoing thud.

“Did you want to play another round of Four Factions?” Sothis asked. Byleth responded with a loud crack of the boar’s leg. She had snapped the bone in half with her clawed feet in order to get at the tasty bone marrow inside.

“Is that a no then?”

_ “I don’t feel like playing right now.” _

“Hm. I suppose it would be disheartening to lose all the time.” Sothis confessed. She flipped herself over onto her back while she watched Byleth consume the rest of the leg. “What do you wish to do with your wealth of spare time then? Attempt to read another book?”

Byleth glanced towards the stack of books hidden in the shadows. She normally enjoyed perusing through their pages, but today, she didn’t feel the urge to do that either.

“How about a game of catch with your ball?”

Byleth shook her head. She couldn’t put her indescribable want into words easily. A week of being cooped up in a wyvern’s roost had made her restless. She yearned for something more than trivial games and playthings. Instead of voicing such a desire, she stretched her left wing out as far as she could stretch it. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine the winds buoying her into the endless sky that she hadn’t seen for so long. But when she tried to stretch her broken wing, a surge of hot pain reminded her why she still had a splint on it.

“I see.” Sothis wore a mournful expression as she spoke. “You wish to be free. I am not bound by earthly restraints such as you, but I feel the same way.”

She casted her gaze upwards. Although the clouds obscured the morning sun, the windows still provided enough light to see things in this otherwise dark and dismal room. After a moment of contemplation, Sothis turned her attention back towards Byleth with a new, impish grin plastered on her face.

“You know, Claude isn’t here. We can try to make our escape.”

_ “Claude told us not to leave.”  _ Admittedly, the thought of being outside was tantalizing to Byleth, more tantalizing than a second boar leg. But she was also scared of what she would find out there, in the world of humans.

“Are you going to follow his every command? Just because you have a broken wing doesn’t mean your will should be broken too!”

_ “But it’s not safe outside.” _

“Ugh! You can’t live your life without taking risks! After all, you lost our recent match of cards by being too conservative.”

Byleth was pretty sure that she lost because of several other mistakes, but she could tell Sothis wasn’t interested in her excuses. The youthful girl flapped the pair of wings on her back noiselessly, propelling herself upwards until she stood in the frame of a window. Byleth felt like she was supposed to be envious of her ability to fly, but she was more curious about what Sothis saw.

“This compound is bigger than I had imagined!" Sothis crowed. "It would take an entire day to properly explore it. A day which we have, by the way. And there’s hardly any people around here. It seems like the aviary is located in a more remote corner of the estate, so I doubt that we will be seen escaping if we are careful.”

_ “How will I even get up there in the first place?”  _ Byleth scanned the distance between her and the window. There was a wooden perch jutting from the stone wall right below the window, presumably so Vaida can stretch her neck through the hole and get some fresh air.

“That is a very good question.” Sothis did not peel her eyes away from the outside world. She stuck one foot out of the window, then the other, then fell out of view. Byleth’s heart stopped for a dreadful moment before Sothis popped back into her field of vision, safely on the ground.

“I was just making sure my limitation still applied. Do not look so concerned for me, hatchling.” Sothis said with both a scoff and a gentle tone.

Once Byleth managed to calm down from Sothis’s apparent fall, she rifled through her few belongings, looking for tools that would help her escape. A plan was already forming in her head. She just needed a rope or a long length of thread that was sturdy enough to hold her weight. But she couldn’t find any such thing, except for the grungy ball that had seen several days of use. If she unwound it, it might be long enough to suit her needs.

“What are you doing?” Sothis asked as Byleth started unraveling the sphere of fabric. She didn’t bother answering, as her plan will become apparent soon enough. The ball was made of several cloth strips that she had to tie together. Soon enough, she disassembled her beloved ball completely in order to fashion a long, makeshift rope.

Byleth wasn’t finished yet. She plucked a big feather from her flank and stuck it in her mouth. As she slid her tongue over its barbs, the feather hardened from the oil she generously lathered it in. It had completely stiffened into a dagger-like object once she pulled it out of her mouth. After rubbing the excess oil away, she tied the end of her rope to its shaft and tested its sharp edge with a rub of her talons. It let out a pleasant, metallic ring in between her claws.

She focused on the perch above her head, took a moment to aim, then hurled the feather at the wooden log with astounding speed. The feather soared and embedded itself into the perch a split second later. Byleth tugged at the strand of fabric that dangled downwards and deemed it satisfactory.

"Hm. How clever of you." Sothis hummed while wrapping her ghostly fingers around the rope. "Too bad you didn't display such wits during our earlier card game."

Byleth ignored her remark and was preparing to climb up, but was stopped by another comment. "You should cover yourself in the cloak Claude gave you. It will certainly make us less conspicuous."

She nodded as she dashed over to her collection of items to throw her cloak on. The soft fabric covered every feather on her body and was loose enough to not constrict her movements. That last fact was important when she was finally ready to make her way up to the window. Byleth slowly pulled herself upwards with her feet and her able wing. She did not stop for anything, out of fear that her rope would snap if she held onto it for too long. Eventually, her effort and patience was rewarded when she finally scrambled onto the perch and clung on it with her talons for dear life.

Once she got over the initial shock of accomplishing such a risky feat, Byleth sidled over to the window and peered outside. Sothis was right. The compound was unfathomably huge. Below her was a dirt road that wound around the aviary and led to several nearby buildings. The biggest building, which she recognized as the von Riegan manor from Claude's introduction a week ago, exuded an expensive aura with its sheer size and decorative details. It seemed even grander than it did when Claude and Byleth soared over it on Vaida's back. Maybe it was her isolation that made it seem bigger, but that didn't matter. She decided, at this very moment, to make that her first stop on her spontaneous adventure.

She just needed to get down first. Sothis gracefully fluttered to the ground with several wingbeats. She glanced around furtively before shouting up at Byleth. "The coast is clear!"

Byleth couldn't fly down the same way that her friend did. She had to pull up her rope and hang the rest of it over the window's edge. Its end hovered a short distance above the ground, but that didn't bother Byleth. She was more concerned about if her feather was going to remain lodged inside the wooden perch. Yet she couldn't take her time in her descent. The longer she took to climb down, the more likely it was for someone to see her. Luckily, she landed both of her feet on the ground without incident. The harpy took a moment to breath in the fresh air before wondering what to do about the plainly visible rope dangling from the window. 

"Leave it. We need it in order to get back inside later." Sothis made the decision for her.

Byleth nodded and started towards the manor on the imminent horizon. During the way there, she caught glimpses of the daily life humans led that were probably mundane to them, but fascinated the harpy to no end. There was a merchant guiding his horse-drawn wagon full of produce, children playing a game in the streets, stray cats napping in nooks and crannies, trees and flowers that she had never seen before… The only thing stopping her from making many detours was the determination to actually reach the manor, first and foremost.

"Why do you wish to visit the von Riegan manor so badly anyway?" Sothis floated next to her while Byleth skipped along the path.

_ "It seems fancy. There might also be a lot of food there." _

"It's always about food for you!" Sothis pressed her index finger against Byleth's right temple. The finger of course phased right through her, but the strange sight made her shudder. "Besides, we have plenty of food already! Or did you already forget the boar that Claude slaughtered just for you?"

_ "I also want to see how Claude lives. Or at least his room." _

"Now that is a more plausible reason." Sothis flashed a smile in agreement. "But we will need a lot of luck to find his room out of all the other rooms in that gargantuan mansion. Seriously, why does a man need a house as big as this?"

_ "Perhaps he isn't the only one who lives here." _ Byleth found herself fixated on the numerous servants that grew more numerous the closer she got to the manor. Their various deeds, whether it consisted of carrying baskets, tending to flowers, or guiding horses, fascinated the harpy. But her long stares were maybe too long, as the humans occasionally returned her stares with odd glances. She wondered for a brief moment if they saw through her disguise, but that couldn't be the case. They would be raising more of a commotion if they knew she was a harpy.

With such worries on her mind, Byleth couldn’t help but jump when a voice rang out behind her. "Excuse me, miss?"

She whirled around and faced a tall, purple-haired man. He was garbed in extraordinarily elegant clothes that matched his hair color, except for the red rose pinned over his heart. With an outfit like that, he must undoubtedly be a person of high importance. 

“What sort of business do you have here? The Golden Deer headquarters are private property, and are not open to the general public.”

Byleth's tongue was limp in her mouth. She couldn't come up with any sort of response that would allow her to stay here. She just stood there and stared at him with wide eyes. Her vacant expression apparently disquieted him, as the next time he spoke up, he took on a sterner tone.

“If you have no urgent business here, I must ask you to leave. Vital, sensitive work concerning the security of the region takes place at this estate, so we cannot have vagabonds roaming about. If you would like to seek succor, I can escort you to the village of Cornwall just outside the gates.”

The man held out his hand. Byleth couldn’t take it without revealing that she didn’t actually have human hands. And she didn’t want to leave anyway. She didn’t know the layout of the von Riegan manor that well, but if she was escorted out of the gates, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to get back to the wyvern aviary, where Claude expected her to be.

Her silence wore out the man’s patience further. A scowl ruined his otherwise regal demeanor. "Can you understand me?"

"It looks like he’s getting mad, and who knows what’ll happen when he gets mad. You better think of a way to get out of this quickly!" Sothis apparently didn't have any actual advice on how to quell the situation. So it was up to Byleth to come up with something.

"Look! It's Claude!" Byleth pointed at the sky, taking care not to let her sleeves roll back.

"What? Is he back already?" The man turned his head in the direction she pointed towards. While he was distracted for a split second, Byleth sprinted away. The man yelped as she fled and chased after her, but the small head start she earned was enough to keep him at a distance.

She needed to think of something else in order to really lose him, however. Sothis flew ahead of her, looking for places to hide, and stopped and waved at an open window just around a corner.

"Over here! Hurry!"

Byleth skidded to a stop and vaulted through the window. She closed the glass panels behind her so that her pursuer wouldn't notice her in here. Once they were shut, she held her breath and remained still until hurried footsteps rushed past her location.

She breathed a sigh of relief and surveyed the room she launched herself into. It was a good thing this place was empty, as she blindly trusted Sothis's judgement and didn't even check to see if it was safe. Her hiding place looked like a storage room of sorts, filled with decrepit boxes, drifting cobwebs, and unused furniture. The sorry state of her surroundings made her wonder why the window was open in the first place. Byleth thought she might have the answer to that mystery when she saw several boxes and chairs that looked less dusty than the others. But that begged the question of why someone would come in here and move stuff in the first place.

“Well, now it’s obvious that we cannot enter the manor so easily.” Sothis sat on a crate and swung her legs in the air. “That man thought that we were a vagabond, and although I loathe to agree with him, you do look a bit like one.”

_ “What should I do about that?” _ Byleth assumed that her dingy, smelly cloak was the cause of the assumption, but it was the only thing that enabled her to walk around safely. She couldn’t very well bare her harpy-ness for the world to see.

“Perhaps we can find some spare clothes in this mess?” Sothis waved an arm at the clutter around them. Byleth couldn’t help but sigh. Trying to find something suitable would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Which was a curious phrase, but she had better things to do than think about where she learned that from.

The hypothetical clothes weren’t going to find themselves. She started rifling through the unruly assortment of items, doing her best to ignore the dust she was kicking up. During her search, Byleth came across a tall pillar-like object that was covered in a thin blanket and set apart from the rest of the junk. She pulled the cloth away out of curiosity, revealing a beautifully carved statue of a woman that looked vaguely like the goddess from one of her books. It was made out of a light grey, almost silvery, stone that somehow managed to capture the woman’s soft curves and flowing garments. Byleth stroked its surface just to make sure that it was actually made of stone. As she examined it further, she noticed that the statue wasn’t completely flawless. It had signs of age like discolored spots, minute cracks, and, most notably, two rough areas on the back that looked like a pair of broken off ends.

“What do you suppose these once were?” Sothis hovered around them with an intense stare. It sounded like she was on the verge of recognizing them.

_ “Maybe an extra set of arms?” _

“Why would the statue have arms sprouting from her back?” She turned her glare towards Byleth. “No. I think these were once wings.”

Of course Sothis would assume that, given her appearance. But if it really was a sculpture of the goddess, then it wouldn’t have wings in the first place. The pictures in her illustrated text of the Church of the Goddess didn’t depict its namesake deity with any sort of wings. Byleth looked over the statue once more, then the area around the statue, to find any evidence proving or disproving Sothis’s claim. She didn’t really find anything except an easel with a half-finished painting on it. The painting depicted a woman with an uncanny resemblance to the statue, only she was in full color and had a much livelier pose. The artist who painstakingly drew this included details so realistic, it looked like she was about to dance off the canvas. For now, the woman would have to dance in a vague background, with broad brush strokes of colors hinting at what was going to be added later.

“What a lovely work in progress.” Sothis vocalized what Byleth was basically thinking of. “But we don’t have all day to admire it. Let’s find some clothes and-”

A series of footsteps alerted them to someone fast approaching. They weren’t quick footsteps, like a man still hunting for a vagabond, but Byleth still felt a sense of urgency. She ducked behind some crates and watched as a young man with olive-colored hair and glasses opened a door she hadn’t seen and strolled into the room, carrying what she assumed to be paint supplies. Not unexpectedly, the man settled down next to the easel. Byleth maybe should have made a break for it while he was organizing his tools, but she found himself entranced by how much stuff he had. She also wanted to watch him work his magic with his paintbrush for a bit.

But the man didn't start painting right away. He paused when he realized that the statue was no longer covered by a blanket, nor were the windows open. He called out to the unknown intruder with a wavering voice. “H-hello? Is someone here?”

Byleth didn't respond back. She waited until the man finished his cursory scan of the room and went back to his painting. Now that he was thoroughly occupied, she had a chance to slip by him and escape. At least, that was what she thought would happen. As she crept around, Byleth bumped into a chair that let out a loud sound when its legs scraped across the floor. The man jumped into place, leaving a dark mark on his painting out of surprise. He then spun around and laid his eyes on Byleth, who tried to hide behind the offending chair that barely obscured her.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. Every part of Byleth's mind, including Sothis, screamed at her to run away. But she remained frozen in fear behind the chair.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you. I thought that I was the only one here." The man set down his paintbrush and shook his head. Byleth wanted to tell him that she should be the one apologizing, as she was pretty sure that she was the one invading this space. But like the rest of her body, her tongue refused to move.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" He stammered out.

"Well. It seems like he doesn't mean us any harm. At least for now." Sothis hovered closer to the artist, who didn't react to her presence. "Let's ask him for clothes and leave this place."

"... I'm looking for clothes." Byleth managed to say at last.

"Clothes?" The man glanced over her filthy cloak. His stare was much less judgemental than the other man's, but she still didn't like the sympathy they held.

He averted his gaze once he realized how long he lingered on her grungy figure. "Uh. Yes. I think I saw some robes while I was cleaning out this place earlier. Hold on."

He wandered off towards a random corner of the room. Byleth realized that she could escape right now, while he was searching through boxes, but she found herself wanting an aforementioned robe more. It took awhile for him to actually find one, however. He unearthed a white robe with dark gold accents from a non-descript box and handed it to Byleth.

"Here you are." 

Byleth unfolded it and measured it against herself. Although it would probably fit a human of her size well, it was too small to hide every inch of her decidedly non-human body. "Do you have anything bigger?"

"Bigger? There should be." He went back to the box and procured a larger set of robes a few seconds later. While Byleth examined these robes, she nodded in satisfaction and remembered what Claude told her to say whenever she was given something.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Byleth barely heard his response as she ducked behind a tower of boxes to change into her new clothes. The sleeves of the robes had room to spare for her folded wings and the hem dragged on the ground, preventing anyone from catching a glimpse of her bird-like feet. It even had a hood to pull over her head, in case she wanted to hide her face. The only downside she could think of was its slightly heavier weight which could impede her acrobatics. But if she didn't need to run from anyone, her hindered movement wouldn't be much of a problem.

The man was waiting with anticipation when she stepped out from her hiding spot. He squinted at her through his glasses. "Are… are you sure that those robes fit you?"

"They're fine." Byleth replied tersely. She joined the ends of her sleeves together so she wouldn't show a hint of feathers or scaly talons.

"If you say so." He sounded like he remained unconvinced. But he didn't touch upon that subject any further. He instead had another question to ask of her. "Would you, er, mind keeping our meeting here a secret? I'm not really supposed to be painting here. Nor was I supposed to give you those clothes."

"Why not?"

"Because the statue and the robes aren't mine. The robes came from the Church, although I don’t know why they’re in storage. But I do know that the statue used to be part of Duke Godfrey von Riegan's collection."

"Is he related to Claude?" Byleth blurted out.

Above her, Sothis fluttered her wings impatiently. "Of course he is! He has the same last name!"

"You don't know him? He's Claude's uncle, and the current head of the Alliance roundtable. This estate used to belong to him back when he ruled it. But when he became the reigning Duke Riegan, Claude took over Cornwall and moved a bunch of stuff out of his mansion, including this statue."

Byleth was a bit surprised at how much stuff Claude moved, judging from the amount of boxes and such. She was also a bit amazed that he didn't want this beautiful statue gracing his living quarters. Did he not have a keen eye for art, or was there another reason why he hid it away in a dark and dusty room?

And that wasn't the end of the questions that sprang to mind. "So why are you painting the statue?" Byleth asked the man.

He sputtered out various noises before forming real words. "I found it while looking for something else in here. It's utterly captivating, isn't it? I couldn't get it out of my mind. It deserves to be on display, but I'm not going to bother Claude about it if he moved it here in the first place. I thought that I would capture its likeness on canvas instead, so that the statue will at least be showcased in spirit."

Byleth nodded in agreeance. "It is beautiful. Is it a statue of the goddess?”

The man shook his head. “I can see why you’d think that, but I can’t say with certainty that it is. It could be modelled after another divine figure of the Church, like one of the Five Saints, the Four Apostles, or the 10 Heroes. Their appearances change ever so slightly over the course of history, to fit the beauty standards of the era. Or it could just be depicting a random, beautiful woman of no historical significance.” 

Byleth listened intently, even though she only understood half of what he was talking about. She patiently waited for his brief lecture to finish before asking another burning question on her mind. “Did the statue used to have wings?”

"Wings? What do you mean?”

"On its back, there are two broken bits. I think it used to have wings."

"More like you thought it was a second pair of arms. I was the one who thought it used to be wings!" Sothis cried out. Byleth remained stony faced as she ignored her.

The man furrowed his brows. "I admit, I thought it was once attached to something, but your theory makes more sense. Still, winged women are not common subjects of art, especially when taking into consideration the estimated decade it was made in and who might have made it."

"Do you know all that?" Byleth noticed how he held his chin in between his thumb and pointer finger. That gesture, and his prior words, made him seem like he knew more about the statue than he initially let on.

"I know a bit about art history in general. My parents and brother are merchants that deal with high-end merchandise like this. But I don't know details about this particular statue. I can only guess from its style, technique, and other telltale signs. If I could, I would love to learn about its past, just so I could paint it better."

His brown eyes drifted towards his painting. Byleth marveled at it before, but now she couldn't help but stare at the stray mark over the woman's arm, inflicted when the man was startled by Byleth. It seemed like the man had similar thoughts, as he sighed after gazing at it for a long moment.

That sigh was so pitiful, Byleth couldn't stop herself from speaking up against it. "Your painting is also beautiful. Maybe you can cover the mark with the wings she once had."

"Oh, it's not that bad of a mistake. I can still paint over it." He initially brushed away her suggestion with a shake of his head, but paused to mull over it more. "But wings would be an interesting addition… hm…"

The man picked up a paintbrush and some paint. It looked like he was about to resume his work, but his paintbrush just hovered over the canvas, as if he couldn't bring it down. He instead turned around and spoke in a timid voice.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I can't really work with someone watching over my shoulder..."

"Oh." Byleth took a step back. She was really curious about how this man was going to paint, but she was willing to leave if it would make him feel better. In fact, she should be leaving this room soon. She got what she came for, and there were still too many places to explore to spend the rest of her time here. Even if this encounter with a human turned out to be more pleasant than she expected.

"I'll leave then."

"Thank you. And sorry about that." The man hesitated before speaking again. "Uh, before you leave, may I know your name?"

"Byleth." The harpy didn't see any harm in giving her name away to this stranger. 

Who was no longer a stranger, she supposed, after he offered up his own name. "It was nice to meet you, Byleth. My name is Ignatz Victor. I hope that we will see each other again, as long as we keep this secret between us…?"

Byleth didn't have an answer for him. She intended on keeping his secret, but she didn't intend on seeing him again. After all, she wasn't supposed to be wandering around outside in the first place. Still, she didn't want to disappoint him with a flat-out no, so she nodded and turned away without another word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be one chapter but Ignatz's section got pretty long so now it's a two parter. Hopefully I'll post the second part quicker~


	7. A Sea Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth's and Sothis's adventure continues.

“You still wish to enter the manor, don’t you.” Sothis sighed as she trailed behind Byleth’s determined march towards the picturesque building. “I don’t begrudge you for it, but surely there are less dangerous places to explore that are just as interesting.”

_ “I didn’t get these robes and come all the way here to not go inside.” _ Byleth replied back. Now that she was dressed in proper clothes, she didn’t draw as much attention as she did earlier in the day. Servants went about their business without staring at her, men and women in armor let her pass by peacefully, and no one approached her with harsh words on their tongues. If it was so easy to blend in among the populace, Byleth wondered why Claude forbade her to venture outside. Maybe he didn’t think she was clever enough to come up with an adequate disguise, or she didn’t know enough about humans to act appropriately around them.

“But remember, you got those robes out of sheer luck. We were fortunate to find a kind and gullible man like Ignatz to help us out. Who knows what he would have done if he knew that we were not human.” 

Byleth accepted Sothis’s gentle reminder but didn’t react otherwise. She was too focused on her surroundings to worry about the what-ifs. In particular, a loud yowl distracted her from her thoughts and drew her attention towards an orange tabby cat. Byleth had seen several cats roaming around the area already, but all of them were either sleeping or shied away from her. This one piqued her curiosity with how its fur stood at its end and how its tail stood straight up like a tree.

She honestly wasn’t sure what to do with it. Was it scared? Angry? Both? In one book she read, the main character had a cat companion that he patted constantly, but she felt like petting this cat wasn’t a good idea at the moment. It spat and hissed at her and swiped its paws at any subtle movements she made. With how hostile it was, it would be difficult to walk by this cat without getting attacked.

_ “What did I do to upset it so badly?” _ Byleth lamented to Sothis.

“I haven’t the foggiest. I’m just as much of an expert on cats as you are.” The floating girl shrugged.

“You there!” A familiar voice called out from behind her. His shouting caused the cat to run away, but Byleth wasn’t the least bit relieved when she turned around and faced her would-be savior.

“Did you really think you could fool me with a change of clothes?” The man with a rose affixed to his chest exclaimed indignantly. “An astute noble such as myself can always distinguish between those who belong here and those who don’t!”

Like last time, Byleth couldn’t say anything in her defense. His sharp words and intimidating demeanor made her want to panic, but panicking would only worsen her situation.

“So on top of trespassing and trickery, you are also guilty of thievery! I must again ask you to come with me, or else-”

“Lorenz! Are you bothering ladies with your noble duties again?”

An exuberant woman with pink hair tied up in a voluminous ponytail walked into the middle of the confrontation. Even though she sounded more amused than angry, she still managed to halt the purple nobleman’s harassment. At least for the moment.

“Hilda, I assure you that I’m doing nothing of the sort. This vagabond,” He gestured to the entirety of Byleth, “has entered our estate unlawfully, and fled when I confronted her. Not only that, she stole these clothes from who knows where and continues to evade my questioning! Surely you can agree that we cannot let her stay here any longer!”

“Uh huh.” Hilda glanced over Byleth with big, pink eyes the same shade as her hair. The harpy should have ran away while they were arguing about her, but that would have only cemented her guiltiness. So she had to stand here in silence while this woman scrutinized her from head to toe. Although it sounded like she didn’t exactly agree with the man in purple, this woman's piercing stare still made her uncomfortable, like she could see through Byleth’s disguise and figure out who she really was.

But she didn’t figure out anything. She instead turned back to Lorenz and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, can't you tell from her robes? She isn't a vagabond! She's a cleric from the Church."

Byleth tried not to react to her proclamation, but it still took her by surprise. Ignatz did say that the robes were from the Church, but she had no idea that they indicated a rank that actually commanded respect. It felt a little sacrilegious to wear them, given her true nature, but they were saving her hide right now. Surely the goddess would forgive a little blasphemy.

The nobleman scoffed in response, a sound that made Byleth's heart sink. "A likely story. I saw her earlier with the dirtiest, most tattered cloak that I have ever laid eyes on. A woman of the cloth would not ever be garbed in such filth.”

“A cloak, huh? Would you say it was like… a travelling cloak?”

“”I suppose. Why do you ask?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She was wearing that cloak over her robes because she was on a mission! Duh!” The pink-haired woman rolled her eyes again. “Travelling clergy don’t get a big allowance, especially if they’re from the Eastern Church. So they have to make due with any help they get. Don’t you know that?”

“I do, but-”

“But you thought she stole these robes?” Hilda didn’t give Lorenz the chance to explain himself. “Where’s she going to steal them from? They don’t exactly grow on trees you know.”

But they apparently come in boxes. Byleth wisely decided not to mention that, and to remain silent. She unfortunately couldn’t stay quiet for long as Hilda redirected her focus towards her.

“Sorry for my friend’s rude accusations. He’s the kind of person that judges others based on their appearance, you know?”

“Hilda, I’m right here!”

“So you’re obviously looking for the chapel, right?” Hilda pointedly ignored Lorenz’s protest. “I can take you there, if you’re lost.”

She extended a hand to take hold of Byleth, but the latter recoiled back out of instinct. Without missing a beat, Hilda’s hand shifted seamlessly in order to beckon her closer instead. That was something Byleth could deal with. She didn’t mind being led to a chapel, whatever that was, if only because she would also be led away from the stuffy nobleman.

As the two of them made their way through the estate. Byleth noted with some sadness that they were heading away from the manor. But she supposed that going there wasn’t really an option anymore. It would be more trouble than it was worth to continue her efforts. That didn’t mean she had to quit her exploration entirely, however. Byleth could think of a few places closer to the aviary and farther from the general populace that she still wanted to check out, once she could get away from this talkative woman.

And she could talk  _ a lot _ . She chatted about all sorts of inane things, from Lorenz’s prideful and annoying attitude to the various chores that the servants carried out around them. It amazed Byleth more that she was willing to divulge so much useless information to a complete stranger. Granted, this complete stranger was supposed to be a cleric, but Hilda came to that assumption all on her own, and Byleth didn’t dare to correct her.

“So what are you here for anyway?” She suddenly asked. That question couldn’t be avoided with silence, so Byleth was forced to speak up.

“I’m… here to see Claude.”

“Claude?” Her pink eyes narrowed. That was apparently the wrong answer. “What does he want with you? Not that you’re an unwelcome guest or anything, but he usually doesn’t interact with the Church unless he needs to.”

Byleth fidgeted in place. Her casual remark was the first interesting tidbit she heard from the woman throughout the entire conversation. But all she could do was file that fact away for now, as Hilda’s eyes widened while she jumped to another conclusion.

“Oooh! I get it! You’re here to  _ see _ Claude!”

“Huh?”

“You’re hoping to meet the Leicester Alliance’s third most eligible bachelor, aren’t you?” Hilda giggled. “Don’t look so surprised! It isn’t uncommon for Leader Man to get a bunch of suitors, including unannounced ones. Unfortunately, your timing is a bit off. He’s away on some business right now, and probably won’t be back for the rest of the day.”

Byleth bit back the urge to say she already knew that. If she mentioned something like that, that would just invite more questions. Although she didn’t quite get what Hilda meant by suitors, Sothis seemed to understand, and had a mischievous grin on her face. 

Hilda shot Byleth an expectant look. The harpy fumbled over her tongue in order to spit out a response. “That’s a shame. But I still have business within the, uh, chapel.”

“Of course. You didn’t come all the way here, all by your lonesome, just to turn around when the man of your dreams isn’t here. A little warning though, our chapel isn’t as grand as the ones you might find in other noble estates. Like I mentioned before, Claude isn’t too big on religion, so he only funds it enough to keep the clergymen here going.”

“I’m sure that it will be good enough for me.” Byleth commented. She hoped that was the end of that topic, but Hilda kept going, this time steering their discussion towards something more personal.

“Now, if you want to visit a grand church, you should visit the one in Goneril. My brother, who’s currently the lord of our house, is in charge of Fodlan’s Locket, so he gets a lot of good stuff in return. I mean, Claude is a bigshot in terms of people of the Alliance, but he’s only in charge of us Golden Deer right now. Not a major fortress like my brother.”

Fodlan’s Locket? That name was familiar to Byleth. Hilda continued to ramble about her brother, whose name was Holst, and his territory, while she tried to recall where she heard the name of that fortress. Sothis remembered much quicker than Byleth did, and tapped her shoulder urgently.

“Fodlan’s Locket was built to keep the harpies of Fodlan’s Throat out of the Alliance. Do you think that means her brother fights harpies?”

_ “If that’s true, then what about his sister...?” _ Hilda’s generosity suddenly seemed more sinister. Byleth had no reason to believe that the talkative woman found out her secret yet, but the longer she stayed here, the more likely something was going to be revealed. Was that the reason why she was being so nice to someone she didn’t know?

She couldn’t help but feel relieved when they finally arrived at the chapel. Like Hilda said, it was an unexceptional building compared to the other fancy architecture around it. But since Byleth wasn’t actually a cleric in the first place, it was easy to keep her face blank and nod in satisfaction.

“Here we are! The von Riegan chapel. I bet you have tons to do, so don’t let me keep you waiting.” Hilda turned as if she was going to leave, then stopped and whirled back around with a wink. “Oh, and don’t get too bummed out about today. Maybe you’ll meet Claude next time. Except, when you do come back, let me know when you arrive here, so we don’t have a repeat of today.”

Byleth nodded, but Hilda wasn’t done with her yet. “Also, have some more advice from me. Try to look more presentable than this. Get clothes that fit, wash your hair, and put some makeup on before you show up again. It’ll do wonders for your first impression.”

"Ok…?” Byleth wasn’t sure about how to respond to that. She had no idea how her looks mattered to Claude, especially since they already met. Sothis, on the other hand, howled with laughter in the background. Hilda didn’t hear the commotion from the invisible girl and finally left for good. Byleth waited until she was out of sight before she darted away from the chapel doors, in the opposite direction of Hilda.

Her feet carried her back to the road that led to the wyvern aviary. Once Byleth felt like they were a safe distance from curious humans, she slowed her pace in order to calm her beating heart. To her, it felt like she narrowly escaped from a dangerous scenario. But to Sothis, the entire situation was hilarious enough to keep that playful smile on her face.

_ “What’s so funny about what Hilda said?” _ Byleth asked her.

“Oh dear. You really are clueless, aren’t you?” Sothis giggled. “But as long as you don’t run into that woman again, it’s nothing to concern yourself with. Where are you going now?”

_ “There’s a pond I saw on the way to the manor. I thought I saw something interesting there.” _

“Can you swim?” Sothis raised an eyebrow. Byleth didn’t have an answer to that question, since the only experience she had with bodies of water was when she woke up in a river at the beginning of her memories. Her feathers weren’t waterproof by any means, and she spent quite a while drying herself in the sun before she could fly.

“I thought so.” She sighed. “Be careful with what you do, hatchling. Just because there’s no humans around doesn’t mean that you can disregard common sense.”

_ “I’ll be careful.” _ Byleth told her just before they reached the aforementioned pond. It was a bit bigger than Vaida’s room, with a pier that reached towards the middle and a cluster of trees on the other side of where Byleth stood. No one was around, which meant she was allowed to stand on the pier and gaze at the water’s surface to her heart's content. It reflected the cloudy skies above, coloring itself in shades of greys and whites. Occasionally, the mirror-like reflection was disturbed by ripples from a gentle breeze or small fish pecking the surface from below.

The scenery was nostalgic to Byleth for some reason. She was drawn here because of that familiarity, which she knew would blossom into another forgotten memory. She just needed to… do what, exactly? There was a piece of the puzzle missing. Byleth continued to stare into the pond while Sothis flew around the area in ever-increasing circles. 

“Byleth! Take a look at these!” The green-haired girl stopped her flight over a long, wooden rod that leaned against a nearby shack. From the end of the rod dangled a silvery string with a curved, metal hook, and next to the rod was a pair of buckets. When Byleth made her way over to these curiosities, she found that one bucket was empty and the other had a handful of wriggling worms inside.

“Gross!” Sothis stuck out her tongue. “I hope you’re not planning on eating those.”

_ “I’m not.” _ Byleth picked both buckets up with her left claws, tucked the wooden rod under her wing, and carried them back to the pier. She grabbed the rod, which she was pretty sure was called a fishing rod, and held up the hook at its end to examine it further. As the metal caught the faint afternoon sunlight, she heard a voice from the deepest recesses of her mind.

_ “... And this is how you bait a hook.” Callous fingers took her wing talons and helped her weave an earthworm around the curved object. His movements were slow and deliberate, so she could learn them just by watching. He then pulled the worm off the hook so Byleth could try it by herself several times. _

_ “There you go. You’re a natural.” She could hear a smile in his voice. “Now, not all fish will be baited by worms. Some of them like blowflies, or larvae, or shiny bits. But when we’re fishing in the wild, earthworms are easy to find and are your safest bet. And remember what I told you earlier.” _

“... Fishing isn’t about your bait, or your rod, or even the fish. It’s about your patience.” Byleth murmured under her breath.

“What was that?” Sothis leaned in closer.

_ “It’s something someone once told me." _ She grabbed a worm from the bucket and threaded it around her hook. She couldn’t copy the exact procedure from her memories, since she couldn’t move one of her wings very well, but the talons on her feet were dexterous enough to do the job.

“Huh. So you know how to fish, courtesy of your human friend.” Sothis remarked. “If only you remembered this back when we were fending for ourselves in the wilderness! You spent ages trying to catch fish with just your talons!”

_ “Don’t remind me.” _ On that note, Byleth casted her line into the water and waited. She was unsure if she was going to be able to pull anything up with one wing, but she wasn’t really aiming to catch anything. Rather, she focused more on the memory that this fishing pond conjured. It felt more vivid than her other memories, maybe because she and the human partook in this activity together often. She could clearly remember his rough, baritone voice that would have been intimidating if it wasn’t so familiar. As she recalled his advice, and the way he gave her his advice, she was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling that made her believe that everything was going to be ok.

The fishing line grew taut. Byleth yanked it back as much as her one good wing would let her. Despite her handicap, she managed to pull up a modestly sized fish with silver scales in no time. 

“What sort of fish is that?” Sothis squinted, her green eyes meeting glassy ones.

_ “An Albinean Herring.” _

“How do you know that?”

_ “I’m not sure.” _ Byleth studied the fish that writhed in her talons. No other memory came to mind besides its name.

“Hmph. Anyway, isn’t Albinea a continent far from Fodlan? How did a fish from there wind up in Claude’s pond?”

Sothis did bring up a good point. Byleth recalled seeing Albinea on the world map found in one of the books Claude gave her. But maybe it wasn’t so unlikely to find it here.  _ “Claude is like royalty. He can stock this pond with whatever fish he wants.” _

“That is true.” Sothis admitted. The fish continued to wriggle throughout their silent conversation. Byleth, who hadn’t eaten anything since this morning, couldn’t hold herself back any longer and chomped down on its head. It went limp in an instant. Byleth was admittedly disappointed at how quickly it died, as she had missed the feeling of live prey in her talons. Its struggle excited her to no end and made its flavor better, in her opinion.

“Be sure not to spill its guts and blood everywhere. Especially on your robes.” Sothis cautioned as Byleth consumed the rest of the fish. “I doubt that humans eat fish raw, so it would behoove us to not leave evidence of our deeds.”

Byleth used some remnants of the fish as more bait and swept any fallen bits off the pier. The leftover fish guts ended up working better than the earthworms, as she succeeded in catching more and more fish. Most of them she consumed, some of them she released due to their unappetizing appearance, and all of them were subjected to Sothis’s poking and prodding. The curious girl asked for their name, their flavor, and any other tidbits of knowledge that Byleth might mysteriously remember. She unfortunately couldn’t provide her with all the answers, but she managed to respond satisfyingly enough. The two of them ended up fishing and chatting their time away, until the sun threatened to sink below the western horizon.

“Byleth, do you think that your human friend might be a fisherman?” Sothis asked.

_ “Not sure.” _ She mentally shrugged. That thought didn’t trigger any memory, but maybe she just couldn’t recall anything right now.

“Well, how else would you know so much about fish?”

_ “I could have read about fish in a book.” _

“I don’t think that’s it. I mean, look at how much fish you caught! You clearly know how to reel them in.” Sothis waved a hand over the blood stained pier, decorated with scales and fish bone shards. 

_ “Why would a fisherman also know how to use a sword?” _ Byleth thought back to several days ago, when she remembered how her human friend taught her to fight. He moved much too professionally to be a simple catcher of fish.

“There’s loads of reasons.” Sothis rolled her eyes. “A fisherman has to protect his catch from hungry sea birds, bandits, sea monsters-”

_ “There’s no such thing as sea monsters.” _ Byleth interrupted her, then hesitated. Could there be sea monsters? Just because she had never heard of them doesn’t mean they weren’t real. After all, she didn’t know a lot of things, thanks to her amnesia.

“How would you know that?” Sothis scoffed, as if she plucked Byleth’s doubts right out of her head. “After all, I’m not supposed to exist, yet here I am. My presence should be proof that the impossible can be possible.”

Byleth was about to argue against that theory, only to be interrupted by a jerk from her fishing pole. Apparently, it had hooked something so large, it threatened to snap her rod in two. She fought the giant creature with all her might, but she couldn’t reel it in singlehandedly (singlewingedly?). Instead, her monsterous catch pulled her closer to the pier’s edge with every tug, until her talons held onto the wood for dear life. And even that wasn’t enough to save her. Right before Byleth fell into the water, a stray thought crossed her mind. She wondered if she might have inadvertently summoned a sea monster just by talking about it.

"Byleth?! BYLETH!" Sothis's shrill voice rang out loud and clear in her mind, in stark contrast to the muffled and watery depths that surrounded her. Byleth had let go of her fishing rod long ago, but she still sank lower and lower. Her clothes and feathers felt like heavy weights that dragged her to the silty bottom of the pond. Instincts told her to flail about, an action similar to swimming, yet the surface still seemed so far away. Byleth's lungs burned in her chest, desperate for air. She tried to suppress the urge to breathe as long as she could, because as soon as she inhaled water, it would be all over for her.

Another large object splashed into the water next to her. It grabbed her and pulled her up before she could react. Byleth panicked, thinking that she was caught by the sea monster, before her head burst above the water and she reflexively sucked in all the air she could.

The large object, who she realized was a mountain of a man with sandy blonde hair, brought her to shore safely. Byleth laid in his muscular embrace while she recuperated from her traumatic dip in the pond. She didn't even realize that she was being held by someone until Sothis pointed it out.

"Byleth! Are you well? You need to recover enough to stand on your own two feet, before this man notices that you are not human!" Sothis hovered over her, sometimes phasing through the man's arms. 

"Hey, are you alright?" The man wore an expression of concern, plain and simple. Although he held Byleth in his arms, he could only feel her drenched robes, not the feathers underneath. Still, the potential danger of the situation finally dawned on her and she struggled to free herself from his grip.

"So I guess that means you're fine?" The man's worry turned into confusion as she wriggled out of his arms and straightened herself out. "That was a nasty tumble you took there. I can carry you to the infirmary if you're still hurt."

Byleth froze. She seemed to always be at a loss for words when confronted by a stranger. That was a habit she should break sometime, but for now, Sothis provided her with a response while her brain was still numb from all that happened.

"You look like you're in shock!" She exclaimed and flapped her wings anxiously. "But we can't go to the infirmary. Whoever is there will undoubtedly uncover our secret! Just tell him that you're fine and let us be off!"

Byleth tried to say what Sothis told her, but a wind blew through the area and chilled her water-ladened body. From her mouth came the chattering of teeth instead of a reply. To make matters worse, another voice rang out in the distance.

"Rapheal! Why did you run off like that?" A woman with coppery orange hair yelled as she ran towards them. 

"I heard a lotta splashing in the pond, so I came here to take a look. Turns out, this woman was drowning, so I jumped in to save her!"

"What woman are you talking about?"

"Huh?" The man glanced towards the spot where Byleth once stood. Not wanting to repeat her mistake from last time, she decided to flee while the big man was distracted by the orange-haired woman. She ended up catching the tail end of their argument, something about how the woman named Leonie needed help from the man named Rapheal so he couldn't run off like that without telling her. Then their argument faded away into the background as Byleth rounded a corner and lost sight of them.

Because of her urgent departure, she ended up in an unfamiliar part of the compound, with generic buildings and little signage to indicate where she was. The encroaching evening made her surroundings more unrecognizable, but it also granted her enough darkness to slip off her robes undetected. Byleth squeezed as much water as she could out of her clothes with her feet, even though she had a feeling that they were a lost cause. She would need a fire or another heat source in order to dry these clothes and her feathers. However, with a fire came people, and the chance of discovery.

"Well, I hope all that fish was worth the trouble we got into." Sothis sighed. Byleth could tell from her tone of voice that she was more concerned than critical. "I suppose that's enough adventure for one day, so let's just go back to the wyvern aviary. Maybe the sand will still be warm from the afternoon rays."

Byleth nodded and garbed herself in the robes once more. The damp fabric was uncomfortable, but she had no choice but to wear them. She would rather endure cold and wet clothes than get caught without any clothes. It was a good thing that she chose to wear them too, because as soon as she poked her head out of her hiding spot, a hovering light caught her eye. Byleth thought at first that someone built a nearby fire while she wasn't looking, but that wasn't entirely the case. The light was a small fireball that hovered above the palm of a young woman with pale skin and even paler hair. Her pink eyes were wide open and darted to and fro, as if they were searching for something specific. Or maybe she was on the lookout for anything that might pounce at her from the shadows.

Like Byleth. The harpy was so mesmerized by her magic that she didn't think to hide herself away when the white-haired woman turned her fireball towards her. The warm light of her spell did little to improve the ghastly visage of the stranger peeking out from behind a barrel. The woman screamed, chucked her fireball at Byleth with one hand, and dropped something she was holding with the other. Byleth jumped back as the barrel exploded. By the time she recollected herself, the woman was gone. 

"Byleth, just because you're tired and want to go home, doesn't mean you can let your guard down!" Sothis berated. "That mageling could have grievously wounded us if she chose to fight, rather than flee!"

_ "I'm sorry." _ Byleth knew that her apology couldn't make up for her near-fatal mistake, but it was all she could say.

"Let this be the last accident you cause today." She wrapped her wings around her shoulders to form a feathery cloak, then walked over to where the woman once was. In her place was a dropped tome of some sort. Byleth snuck over to examine it herself and found that she barely recognized any words on the cover or in its pages. She could make out some of the short and simple words, but considering how thick the book was, it would take her a very, very long time to read it from cover to cover.

"It must be a spellbook." Sothis remarked. "I've always wanted to try magic. How about you?"

Byleth startled a bit at Sothis's sudden impulsiveness. Wasn't she just telling her to be careful? And now she was suggesting to take an unfamiliar book? Besides, Byleth knew nothing about magic. She has no idea on how to cast a spell, if she even had any magic in the first place, and if human magic and harpy magic were different. All these questions fueled her curiosity, and her burning curiosity compelled her to pick up the book. She felt a twinge of guilt, taking something that wasn't really gifted to her, but she assured herself by promising to return it at the next opportunity.

"Very good." Sothis apparently didn't have the same qualms as Byleth. "Now let's depart before that girl comes back for her spellbook."

Byleth nodded and headed off in a random direction. Well, not entirely random. Her current environment was pitch black, but the von Riegan mansion in the distance was lit up with cheery lights. By using the large building as a beacon of sorts, Byleth could estimate where the wyvern aviary was. She just needed to not run into anyone else on the way there. The last thing she needed was more interactions with humans that might find out her true nature.

Fortunately, she was able to navigate through the darkness with Sothis's help and encouragement. Unfortunately, the rope that led up and into Vaida's room was gone. 

"Ugh! Can this day get any worse?" Sothis pouted. She floated up to the window to figure out what happened. "It looks like someone yanked on the rope hard enough to break it. Its new end is too high up to grab now."

Byleth was honestly too tired to think about this new problem. She just sat down on the ground and stared at the night sky above her. The twinkling stars were so numerous, they made her current predicament seem small. This moment of serenity left her with a strange feeling, like everything would turn out fine if she left her fate to the cosmos.

But Sothis wasn't going to let her dawdle all night. She obstructed Byleth's upward stare with her head and a determined expression on her face.

"Come now! No more of that! There must be someplace to hide while we wait for Claude to come back!"

Byleth let out a low grumble as she stood up. Try as they might, the two of them had a hard time looking for a suitable place to spend the night. The doors to the wyvern aviary were under lock and key, and Byleth's feathers were too wet to preen into a razor sharp edge. The hole in the ceiling, which was normally used to dump food into Vaida's room, was covered by a mesh net that was also locked shut. The few windows that led inside the aviary were either too small to climb through or too high up to reach. 

Byleth and Sothis were eventually forced to look for an alternative hiding place away from the aviary. The harpy was initially drawn to the nearby trees, but her broken wing still hindered any attempts to climb them. So she settled for a space in between some bushes and a stone wall. Once they settled in, Sothis quickly fell asleep and retreated back to the recesses of her mind. With her friend gone, Byleth tried her best to stay awake in order to keep an eye on her surroundings. But it was a hard task to accomplish when her drowsiness threatened to overtake her. Her eyelids blinked shut once, then twice, then she soon dozed off into a dreamless slumber.

Yet she felt like she barely slept a wink when nearby movement awakened her. Byleth glanced up and noticed that the sky was already turning orange from the approaching dawn. She also noticed something snuffling through the bushes in front of her. It looked like a snout with large teeth that chomped at the twigs and leaves of her barrier. Byleth froze in panic, which was a bad idea in hindsight, as the teeth chomped down on the edge of a sleeve and pulled her out into the open.

Those teeth belonged to an animal that she recognized as a horse. It wouldn’t have been a problem by itself, but standing next the horse was a woman with sky-blue hair. Her dark eyes widened at the sight of someone in oversized robes caked in mud. Byleth wanted to run, to hide, to do anything that would get her out of this predicament. But she was completely paralyzed, partially out of fear and partially because the horse was still holding onto her robes.

“Oh!” The woman exclaimed. “Um, please don’t be afraid. Dorte and I mean no harm.”

Byleth remained motionless still. The woman patted the horse’s head, causing it to let go of her sleeve. Even though she was free now, her body didn’t react to her brain’s request to move.

“I just- I didn’t expect to find someone here.” The woman seemed to be as speechless as Byleth. The two of them stared at each other in silence, until Byleth finally figured out that the other person wasn’t going to apprehend her or anything like that. She tried to stand up, but found that her strength was sapped after her trip into the pond and a night outdoors. She stumbled and nearly fell down. Byleth only remained upright because the woman caught her by grabbing onto her broken wing.

Pain shot through her body and she jerked backwards. Byleth nursed her right wing as best she could, not even realizing that a human had touched her. If the woman noticed anything odd, she didn't comment about it. She instead had a worried expression on her face and held out a reassuring hand.

"Are you hurt? I didn’t mean to pry, but I felt a splint underneath your sleeve. So I can… I can use magic to heal you. If you want." 

When Byleth stayed silent, the blue-haired woman recited a prayer under her breath that made her hand glow with a warm, white light. Byleth didn’t know how to react, so she just stared down at her outstretched hand. She wanted to accept her offer of course, but Claude’s warning stuck out in her mind. He said that humans hated harpies because they were different, that they were effectively enemies. If she allowed this woman to heal her, she might find out the truth, and then what would she do? 

She would deal with that if that happened. That was what she would do. After all, nothing bad came out of the times she was aided by other people. The man who gave her the robes, the woman who saved her from the arrogant nobleman, the man who rescued her from the pond… 

Byleth was tired of avoiding people that wanted to help her. So she nodded.

A look of relief crossed the woman’s face as she set her hand on Byleth’s right sleeve. The soft glow spread from her fingers to the rest of Byleth's wing, providing relief instantly. Her healing magic also had the added benefit of dispelling the cold that plagued Byleth all night. A solid minute passed before she lifted her soothing hand away. Byleth almost wanted to keep that hand on her, but the woman had an inscrutable look that shot fear into Byleth’s heart. Did she…?

"I did my best." The woman nodded the slightest of nods. "But white magic can't heal broken bones in an instant, especially if they're old injuries. If you were a normal patient, I would want to meet with you daily, but…"

The woman sighed as her sentence trailed off. “I’m sorry. I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is Marianne. What’s yours?”

The healing spell must have unstuck Byleth’s tongue, because she was able to speak for once. “Byleth.”

"Byleth…” Marianne murmured her name. Byleth thought she was going to comment about it, but her thoughts were on something else instead. “Um, pardon me for asking, but you’re not… wholly human, are you?”

Byleth flinched at the accusation. So she did figure it out. Maybe Byleth was lucky the last few times, and this encounter was when her luck was going to run out. Before she could defend herself, Marianne hurriedly tried to correct herself.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way. And I’m not going to hurt you. I just… um… it’s unusual to find someone like you here.”

That was putting it lightly. Byleth was still wordlessly panicking over the reveal, so Marianne continued on. “You have a broken wing, yes? So you can’t fly out of here. But you have a splint, so someone here must be taking care of you. Can you… tell me who you’re staying with?"

Byleth didn’t say anything at first. It was one thing to let Marianne heal her, it was another to reveal that Claude was helping her for the past week or so. She instead opted to focus her gaze towards Vaida's tower. If Sothis was awake, she would berate her for revealing such an important detail, but right now, Byleth didn’t care. 

Marianne's eyes followed her stare. "Oh. Um. Vaida isn’t really a person... But if that's where you want to go… I don't have the keys to that room, but I can let you inside the aviary. It would be safer in there than out here, at least."

Marianne led her over to the aviary and unlocked its doors. She left her horse outside, but Byleth followed her in like a chick following its mother. Marianne didn't have access to Vaida's room, like she mentioned, so she picked out an empty wyvern's roost that probably wasn't going to be attended by anyone else.

"I think this should be good enough." She said as Byleth meandered inside. This room used straw, dried grass, and wood chips for bedding instead of sand and pebbles, but the harpy was still able to construct a nest of sorts that also covered her body. If one was to peer through the bars of the door, they would only find a mound of straw from their vantage point.

“Do you, um, need anything else? I’m afraid I can’t offer much more healing, but…”

A question slipped from Byleth’s mouth without a second thought. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you help me? I thought that humans hated harpies.”

Marianne casted her gaze downwards. Byleth thought that she had said the wrong thing for a moment, but when she lifted her head up again, there was a confident look in her eyes. “That is true for most people, I suppose. But as for me… I know what it’s like to be treated like a monster, just for being myself. So I can’t hate others like that. Especially when you were hurt.”

Her confidence flickered away like a candle’s flame blown out by a gust of wind. When she spoke again, her voice took on its usual, wavering tone. “Like I said, humans don’t usually like harpies, so they don’t like humans that help harpies too. If you ever meet anyone else, please don’t tell them about what I did for you.”

After everything she had done for Byleth, she had to say yes by nodding. Besides, the only human Byleth regularly talked to was Claude, and she didn’t intend to reveal anything about her adventure to him. This second secret entrusted to her was as good as sealed.

The woman sighed with relief from Byleth’s answer and moved to close the door. "Thank you. If I see you again, I'll see if I can heal your wing better. For now, I guess this is goodbye." 

From how she said that, it sounded like the woman didn't expect to run into Byleth anymore. Which was a reasonable expectation, but she was a bit disappointed anyway as the door shut behind her. That lingering regret didn't stick around for too long, however, as fatigue once again overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes and let her worries drift away before falling back asleep under her pile of straw and grass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went through a lot of revisions so if something doesn't make sense, that's probably due to chopping up scenes and making a bunch of edits. But I can try to clarify things if needed. :3


	8. A Magic Tome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude deals with the fallout of Byleth's misadventures.

Yesterday was not a great day for Claude von Riegan.

He and Vaida flew all the way back to the village that hosted a celebration for the Golden Deer after they defeated a nearby encampment of bandits. Now it held several prisoners that Claude was eager to question. Those bandits may not be the spell-flinging rogue that hinted at knowing things he shouldn’t know, but they should at least be able to divulge some information about their leader. Right?

Wrong. It turned out that they knew as little about the bandit leader as Claude, despite having worked under him for a decent length of time. They were only able to reveal his name, Myson, and Claude doubted that it was real. Why would someone so secretive share something so personal? Further questioning bore little fruit, so Claude took to the skies again and scoured over the remains of the bandit camp in case he had missed something earlier. Unfortunately the hill over the Airmid River had been picked clean by the villagers or wandering scavengers. In a desperate attempt to glean something out of this hole side trip, Claude visited the clearing where he killed the bandit leader. And where he first met Byleth.

It had only been a week or so, but to Claude, it felt like he had known her since forever. Maybe it was because he was spending most of his free time with her ever since he took her home. He had to, in order to ensure that her wing was healing properly and to teach her all sorts of things. The prospect of becoming familiar with Byleth should have been endearing, but it instead made him vaguely upset. He knew that she was going to have to leave him sometime, whenever her wing was back to normal, since a harpy couldn’t possibly live among humans. She might even leave before he discovered everything there was to know about her. That sobering possibility made it difficult to think about her inevitable departure.

So he didn’t think about it. Claude scoured the forest clearing as best he could, but only turned up broken branches and half-buried feathers. He was about to give up and go home before Vaida picked out something shiny in the dirt he kicked up. Her teeth gently bit down on a small, metal pin with an ornate logo of some sort. The longer he stared at it, the more familiar it seemed. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it came from, but he was sure he could figure it out later. For now, he patted Vaida on the head for a job well done and mounted her to leave this scenery behind them.

That was what he thought would happen, anyway. After more reminiscing about Byleth, Claude found himself hovering over the Airmid River. She mentioned how she woke up along its banks shortly before she met Claude, so he was hoping to find some evidence of her claim. But in retrospect, that was a foolish notion. She might have woken up far away from here, and any signs of her existence would have already been swept away by forces of nature, just like the site he just visited. Still, he didn’t mind soaring over the peaceful river for a bit longer. Claude needed this moment of tranquility before he flew back to the mountains of work that awaited at home.

Although he expected some craziness when he returned the next day, he didn’t quite expect the spectacle below him. The Golden Deer, minus Marianne and Ignatz for some reason, gathered around the gates of the aviary as they waited for him to descend. Once they landed, Vaida clawed the ground and shook her head nervously, unsettled by the congregation of humans. Claude clutched onto her reins tightly with one hand and waved at his Deer with his other hand.

“I’m touched that you all missed me so much!” He said with an easy grin.

“We’re not here for that reason.” Lorenz retorted back. “There is an important matter that we must speak to you about immediately.”

Claude didn’t like the sound of that. It would be one thing if it was just Lorenz here. The Gloucester heir seemed to think that he was in charge of the manor grounds whenever Claude left for business, despite the fact that he gave that duty specifically to Hilda. But with everyone here? Something was definitely amiss. His first thought turned to Byleth, but he was sure that was just his paranoia speaking. After all, he was 100% certain that he had locked the door behind him yesterday.

Vaida let out a low grumble, saving him from this conversation. Claude stroked her forehead reassuringly. “Can it wait until I put my wyvern away? You’ll have my full attention afterwards.”

“Very well. The aviary isn’t a suitable place for such a sensitive topic anyway. Let’s meet up again in the conference room.”

“Sure, sure.” Claude guided Vaida into the aviary without sparing Lorenz and the others a second glance. As he thought, the door to Vaida’s room was sealed shut. Yet when he opened it up, Byleth was nowhere to be found. 

“Byleth? Where did you go?” He called out. His heart raced a mile a minute as he glanced around frantically for the missing harpy. Damn it all! There was no possible way she could have gotten out, so where could she be? Claude checked through conspicuous piles of sand, around the mostly uneaten boar, behind the small stack of books, underneath the watering trough, anywhere that could be a hiding place. His worst fears were realized when he noticed a sharpened feather jutting through a wooden perch, with a rope of dirty fabric tied to it.

Huh. So she was more clever than he assumed. Or maybe Sothis was the one who came up with this idea? Still, Claude couldn't tear through the entire estate to look for the wayward harpy. He took several deep breaths to calm himself. The matter that Lorenz and the others wanted to speak to him about was probably Byleth. Did that mean she was captured, or simply seen? Before his mind ran away with all the possibilities he could come up with, a quiet voice rang out in the hallway behind him.

“Claude?”

“Byleth?!” Claude raced over to the empty wyvern roost next to Vaida’s. Sure enough, Byleth was inside. She looked like a complete mess, with straw, dried grass, and mud all over her once-white robes. And was that a book in her talons? There were too many questions he had to ask, and not enough time to ask them. The others were waiting for him, and their suspicions would be aroused if he tarried in here for too long.

So he only bothered asking the more important questions. “How in the world did you get in here?” Claude asked in a half-amused and half-frustrated voice.

Byleth glanced away, like she was ashamed of something. “It’s a long story.” She eventually admitted.

“I bet it is.” Claude opened up the door and held out a hand. “Come on, you have to get back inside Vaida’s room before someone else comes in here.”

She took his extended hand gingerly. He led her back to Vaida’s roost and wasted no more time in closing the door behind him. “Ok, second question, where did you get your new playthings?”

“Another long story.” Byleth murmured as she collapsed in a mound of sand. Whatever she got up to yesterday, it must have worn her out. Claude glanced over the book she tossed aside and flinched when he saw the archaic runes on its cover. Yep, there was no way she could have gotten her hands on a black magic tome without a long story.

“If you’re too tired to explain anything, that’s fine. I have other things to take care of. But I need you to really stay put this time, alright? And don’t mess with that book.”

Byleth let out a grumble that sounded a bit like a yes. Claude remained unconvinced and turned to Vaida, who stared back curiously. “Vaida, you’ll watch over our guest while I’m not here, won’t you? Make sure she doesn’t escape again!”

Vaida growled in affirmation. At least Claude could trust one person in this room. After giving the harpy and the wyvern the most serious look he could muster, he turned around and left the room with a slam of the door.

* * *

When he finally showed up at the conference room, he was delighted to see and smell a basket of freshly baked rolls, courtesy of Raphael. Claude helped himself to one and bit into it noisily, disregarding the nasty glare Lorenz shot his way.

“Would it hurt you to show a little more decorum during an important meeting?” Lorenz frowned.

“Don’t be like that, Lorenz! You’re the only one that thinks this is important after all.” Hilda piped up.

“Actually, I think it’s important too.” Leonie said, to everyone’s astonishment. “An unknown intruder should never be taken lightly.”

“Yeah, but you barely even saw her.” Hilda glanced at Leonie.

“Hold on. Let’s start from the beginning.” Claude mumbled through a mouthful of bread. “What’s this about an intruder?”

Claude already knew who the intruder was, but he wanted to hear the story from the mouth of the Golden Deer themselves. Not only would he get specifics about her escapades, he can determine if any of them found out the truth. And then, if he had to, he could start weaving an elaborate web of half-truths, excuses, and misdirections in order to conceal Byleth’s identity.

Lorenz started their explanation. “Yesterday morning, I spotted a strange woman wandering around our premises. I could tell in an instant that she did not belong here, as her cloak was incredibly filthy. When I inquired about her business, she did not respond at first. It was only when I started making more forceful demands that she fled. Luckily, I remembered enough of her appearance to have Ignatz sketch a portrait of her.”

He handed a piece of paper to Claude. The drawing of Byleth was impressively accurate. Yet it felt off to him, presumably because it was drawn with the assumption that the subject was fully human. Therefore, the portrait added a degree of humanity that she didn’t actually possess, while also lacking the otherness that Claude had grown used to.

“How did she get away from you, anyway?” Lysithea asked. “You’re usually pretty good at not letting people escape from a conversation.”

“Yeah, how did she manage that?” Hilda repeated Lysithea’s question with a smug smile when she saw how Lorenz squirmed in his seat.

“Well, that’s not really pertinent to the matter at hand-”

“Come on, Lorenz. Any little detail would be helpful at identifying our mystery guest, right?” Claude joined in on the egging, much to Lorenz’s dissatisfaction. The nobleman ultimately relented with an audible sigh. 

“The stranger distracted me by pointing behind me and saying that you, as in Claude, were there.”

Claude did his best to suppress his laugh, but he still ended up snorting. Raphael wasn’t as considerate towards Lorenz’s dignity and laughed out loud. Hilda followed in his footsteps with a shrill giggle and choice words.

“I can’t believe you fell for that! I mean come on, that’s like the oldest trick in the book!”

“Yes, well.” Lorenz tried to salvage his pride by appearing as cool and collected as he could. “That… perhaps wasn’t my finest moment.”

“But now we know that this woman knows my name.” Claude tried to sound like this information was new to him. Which wasn’t a hard task at all, considering he had much practice in masking his true feelings on matters.

“That doesn’t really mean much.” Leonie shook her head. “Claude von Riegan is a household name in the Leicester Alliance, and maybe even beyond the Alliance.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Claude shrugged. “But like I said, every little detail helps. So, what happened next?”

“I attempted to give chase, but the woman disappeared.” Lorenz said in a tone that tried to downplay his second failure. “I found her again about an hour after our first encounter. This time, she managed to procure some cleric’s robes through what I presumed to be thievery.”

“Oh, that’s where I come in!” Hilda chimed in without warning. “I thought he was bothering a poor, innocent cleric, so I offered to bring her to the chapel where she had some business.”

“Which, by the way, the woman never mentioned. Hilda came to that assumption all on her own.” Lorenz pointed out.

Claude nodded, although his mind was someplace else. Lorenz’s and Hilda’s story didn’t really explain where Byleth got the robes from, but she could have found them during her absence. He was more amazed that her disguise managed to fool Hilda, who was usually so perceptive, she can pick out details about someone that they themselves didn’t even know. But he supposed it was a good thing that she didn’t notice Byleth’s more unusual attributes.

"Can you blame me for assuming that though? That’s where most visitors from the Church end up.” Hilda brushed away Lorenz’s remark with a shrug. “Anyway, I talked with her a little more, and it turned out that she was also here to see Claude. And when I mean see Claude, I mean she wanted to  _ see _ Claude.”

Claude coughed and sputtered loudly. Of all the things that Hilda could have said to catch him off guard… He couldn’t even begin to imagine himself and Byleth together, in the manner she was suggesting.

“What a preposterous notion!” Lorenz scoffed. “How could a mannerless individual consider themselves good enough for the nephew of Duke Riegan?”

“I dunno. We’ve had weirder would-be suitors…” Leonie said thoughtfully while laying her chin on her knuckles.

“I don’t think she’s a suitor.” Claude said hurriedly, in order to stop this train of thought from going any further. “At least, I don’t think she isn’t serious about seeing me. She wouldn’t have been skulking around if she was.”

“This woman seemed pretty meek, though, so maybe she’s just like that. Anyway, when I told her that you weren’t here, she gave up on that idea pretty quickly. I left her at the chapel’s doors and that was the last I saw of her.”

“But that wasn’t the end of her intrusion.” Lorenz supplied. “The people at the chapel said that they never noticed anyone like her enter the building. The next ones to see her were… Raphael and Leonie, I believe?”

“Yup.” Leonie nodded. “Although Raphael did most of the seeing. Later in the afternoon, we were on our way to grab supplies that were dropped off at the gates, when he noticed someone falling into the fishing pond.”

“The fishing pond?” Claude blinked. He wondered what she was doing there, considering that she couldn’t fish. Maybe she was hungry and tried to catch something with her bare talons? It would certainly explain how she fell into the pond…

Raphael nodded. “I didn’t really see what happened before. I just dove in after her. She was really scared, and couldn’t speak a word. But she wriggled out of my arms quickly enough, so I guess she wasn’t too hurt. And then she ran off before Leonie showed up.”

A flood of relief washed over Claude’s mind. Harpies and water undoubtedly didn’t mix, so he was glad to hear that she wasn’t seriously injured from that accident. However, this was a hole that Byleth was going to have to fill in later.

“So that means the last person to see this woman is Lysithea?” Claude was a bit afraid to find out how the young mage caught a glimpse of Byleth.

“Yeah.” Lysithea sounded surprisingly timid about the subject. He briefly wondered why she was like that before she continued on with her recollection. “I… didn’t realize she was actually someone at first. Last night, I was looking for a book I left behind, and then on my way back to the manor, I saw a face peeking out from the shadows. She startled me so much, I blasted her with magic.”

“You did what now?” Claude asked with more concern than he intended.

“Well, I blasted the barrel she was hiding behind with magic.” Lysithea huffed. “I don’t know what happened to her after that. But I did end up losing my book again, and when I went back for it this morning, it was gone.”

Now he knew why Lysithea acted coy about her story. By reading between the lines, Claude figured that she thought that Byleth was a ghost, attacked her in a panic, then fled. More importantly, he knew where Byleth got the spellbook. He didn’t know what compelled her to take it with her in the first place, but he should give it back to Lysithea, just so there weren’t any further mishaps.

Usually, Claude would take this opportunity to tease Lysithea and her fear of ghosts, but now wasn’t the time. He needed to deflect as much attention away from Byleth as possible. “That’s it then? No one else has any stories about this mystery woman?”

“Not among us, no.” Lorenz replied. “Ignatz and Marianne didn’t run into the intruder at all yesterday, which is why they're not present at this meeting. The rest of us only made a connection between our encounters at breakfast today. However, we have not gotten the chance to question the rest of the household about this matter.”

“What are we going to do about her?” Leonie directed her inquiry towards everyone in the room, not just Claude. “The guards at the gate said that they didn’t see anyone like her leaving, so she must still be in the compound!”

“I doubt that.” Claude remarked. “I bet Lysithea’s magic scared her off for good, and she left the way she came in. We shouldn’t be seeing her anytime soon.”

And he was going to make sure of that. Byleth was lucky that no one noticed anything inhuman about her during her various escapades yesterday. If she broke free a second time, he doubted that her luck would hold.

His casual dismissiveness did not sit well with most of his allies. “But Claude, aren’t you worried that this woman is an enemy spy? Or worse, another assassin sent after you?” Lysithea protested.

“She’s definitely not an assassin.” Claude shook his head. “Or a spy. If she was, she wouldn’t be so clumsy to be seen on three different occasions and fall into a pond once.”

“And I didn’t get that vibe from her anyway.” Hilda interjected. “She’s just… way too passive for that. Except for the time she fooled Lorenz, I guess.”

“Same here. She didn’t have enough muscles to be an enemy!” Raphael also voiced his opinion in Claude’s favor.

Claude was happy to have two of the Golden Deer on his side, since their concordance caused the others to mutter amongst themselves. In order to put this issue to rest completely, Claude sought to reassure them further with lip service “Just to be on the safe side, I’ll have the guards check around the perimeter and see if there are any openings in the walls. We can also up their shifts and ask after the woman in the village. Maybe they’ve seen her around, and can offer some insight. But seriously, I don’t think this is that big of a deal. It’s weird, yeah, but it’s nothing we need to worry about.”

With his final thoughts on the matter, Claude adjourned the meeting between the Golden Deer. He may have hurried out of the room a little too quickly, but that wasn’t a concern on his mind right now. After putting out the figurative fires Byleth started, he definitely needed more answers from that harpy.

* * *

“Hey, By-” Claude stopped in his tracks when he spotted a literal fireball hovering over the aforementioned person’s wing. It apparently wasn’t enough for her to cause figurative fires. Now she had to move on to actual fire conjured by the tome she stole from Lysithea! A spell that he had no clue she could perform! And something Claude told her explicitly not to do!

His mind raced with questions and scoldings alike, but the only thing he could manage to say was, "Byleth, what the fuck."

Byleth continued to play with the fire while they stared at each other. He had expected her to avert her gaze, or to stay silent, like the other times he confronted her. Yet here she was, acting like she had total command of the fireball and Claude's shock was praise rather than reprimand. To add to his further shock, she replied, “You didn’t say that Sothis couldn’t mess with it.”

“That's not-" Claude interrupted his own sentence with a groan. Apparently her (or Sothis’s, or their) rebellious streak was still continuing from yesterday. And this newfound attitude was turning out to be a big pain in the ass.

"First off, could you put that out please?" Seeing that flame flickering over her talons made him nervous. Luckily, she decided to obey him this time and snuffed it out. 

"Secondly, I'm not trying to sound mean or anything, but I didn't want you to touch the book because I didn't want you to get hurt. What if you accidentally set something on fire, or exploded something? If you and Sothis wanted to try using magic, you could have at least waited until I got back. Stuff like this can kill you in the wrong hands. Or talons, in your case.”

Byleth lowered her gaze in a silent apology. There was the demure harpy he was familiar with. Yet, her regret made Claude realize that maybe he was being too harsh on her. He even surprised himself with how much he reacted. 

In order to amend things, he brightened his dark expression with a forced smile. “I guess I can't blame you entirely though.  _ Someone _ was supposed to keep you out of trouble while I was gone.” Claude aimed his quip at Vaida, who was perched a few feet above them.

The white wyvern stared down at him, then let out a huff. Byleth remained as quiet as usual throughout the exchange, but Claude spotted the faintest of smiles on her face. Good. Now that he made things up between them, he was able to think about that idle comment that Byleth made, the one about Sothis's desire to read the magic tome. That ghostly girl was more surprising than her host sometimes. 

“So, wait a sec. Can Sothis understand this tome?”

Byleth nodded. “She told me how to cast a spell from the book. She also says that she wasn’t going to let it get out of hand, and you didn’t need to worry that much.”

“Uh huh.” Sothis's reassurance only made him fret more. “But really, it’s unusual for you to use human magic, even if someone is guiding you through it. It’s unheard of, even. According to Sir Hanneman’s testimony, human magic should be incompatible with harpy physiology.”

“That author got a lot of things wrong. He’s probably wrong about this too.” 

“It wouldn’t surprise me. This is still a big discovery, though.” Claude pondered out loud. “Hm, do you think that Sothis might be an accomplished mage that somehow trapped herself in your head with a spell gone wrong? That would explain her knowledge of the arcane arts, as well as her appearance, and maybe even your ability to use magic in the first place. Maybe.”

His outlandish theory didn’t elicit any sort of reaction from Byleth. Was he barking up the wrong tree? After a moment of silence passed, Byleth shook her head. “Sothis says that doesn’t feel right.”

“It was worth a shot.” Claude shrugged. He could have dwelled on this topic longer, thanks to the infinite number of questions in his head, but he remembered what he actually came here to do. He made sure that she was looking at him before he spoke, as he wanted to clearly convey his seriousness on the matter.

“This is all very interesting, but there’s something else I need to talk to you about. My fellow Golden Deer have some, let’s say, curious stories about your adventures yesterday.”

Byleth said nothing, allowing him to continue on. “You were spotted by Lorenz twice, and during the second time, Hilda bailed you out because she thought you were a cleric. Probably because of your robes. But how did you get those robes? You didn’t swipe them from an unsuspecting cleric, did you?”

He didn’t know what he would have done with her if that was the case. Fortunately, Byleth shook her head. Unfortunately, she didn’t offer any other explanation. Claude raised an eyebrow and propped his head up with a hand. “Well, are you going to tell me how you got them? If you found them in the manor, then they’re probably mine, you know.”

“I found them in a storeroom.” Byleth replied simply. “Along with… a statue without wings.”

“Oh?” Claude had to pause in order to figure out what she was talking about. It had been a couple of years since he took over the manor, so it was difficult for him to recall every single thing that he moved from it. Yet he managed to remember that particular item, because of that peculiar attribute that Byleth somehow noticed.

“... Someone said it belonged to your uncle. Then you had it removed from your mansion.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” So Byleth did run into someone in between the two encounters with Lorenz. He suspected as much, since he didn’t believe she could get these robes on these own. Now the question was, who did she talk to? 

“Do you not like it?” She asked.

“Eh, it’s not my style.” Claude replied nonchalantly. Truthfully, there were other reasons why he removed it, but they weren’t reasons he cared to vocalize. “Who told you about it?”

“Someone.”

Since it seemed like she wasn't going to give up a name, that someone must have sworn her to secrecy. Which meant Byleth caught them doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. Or at least, doing something they thought they weren’t supposed to be doing. He silently wished that he could get Byleth to listen to him like this someone could. 

"Could you at least tell me what they doing with the statue? Even though I don't like it enough to have it in my room, I'd rather not have it broken any further."

"He wasn't going to hurt it. He actually likes the statue a lot." Byleth paused before continuing on. "He liked it so much, he's painting a picture of it."

So this secret someone was a painter. That narrowed down the list of suspects quite a bit. In fact, Claude had a hunch on who she spoke to the instant she mentioned that vital detail. Maybe she noticed his thoughtful expression, or maybe Sothis berated her for revealing too much, because a guilty look crossed Byleth's face as she looked down at her feet again.

"Don't worry about it." Claude did his best to assure her. "He can paint that statue to his heart's content. In fact, I'd like to see the finished painting when he's done. If I ever find out who he is, anyway."

Byleth bought his white lie without any questions. He could tell that she felt relieved with the way her shoulders relaxed and her feathers smoothed out. Deciding that he interrogated her enough about this anonymous painter, Claude proceeded with the other stories of the Golden Deer.

“Alright. After Hilda saved you, she started talking to you, and somehow thought that you were infatuated with me. I had to convince her that wasn’t the case-”

“Infatuated?” Byleth sputtered. Her cheeks took on an uncharacteristic blush, which Claude would have found cute if it weren’t for their current conversation.

“So you didn’t actually give her that idea? That’s a relief. Anyway, instead of heading into the chapel, you wound up at the fishing pond and fell into it.”

Byleth hummed, like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself. Claude leaned forward with a faint smile. “I know that you aren’t that clumsy. What really happened?”

“I… went fishing.”

“You know how to fish?” This harpy was honestly just full of surprises.

Byleth nodded. “My human friend taught me how to fish. I caught a lot of fish at your pond, but then I hooked something big and it dragged me into the pond.”

“Ouch.” Claude winced. “For the record, we don’t stock the pond with anything that could be dangerous. Perhaps there’s something in there that shouldn’t be there. But regardless, I heard that Raphael saved you from a watery grave. I’m glad that you weren’t hurt, and that Raphael didn’t figure out anything about you.”

The fact that her human friend fished wasn’t a particularly useful hint, as fishing was a common hobby among people. Still, he filed that tidbit away for later. “Then you ran away from Raphael and Leonie, and ran into Lysithea, who blasted you with a spell. She dropped her book in the process, and you picked it up for some ungodly reason. That part is self-explanatory, even if I question your judgement.

“The part that baffles me is how you got into the aviary afterwards. At that hour, it should be locked. Is lockpicking another one of your many talents?”

Byleth shook her head no. “Then did someone let you in?” Claude asked.

She didn’t respond. Claude took that as a yes. He also assumed, from her silence, that she was keeping another secret from him. If he was the kind of person to believe in fate, he would have believed that this mysterious benefactor was the last Golden Deer to be accounted for. But that was too much of a coincidence.

Or was it? Stranger things have happened when Byleth was concerned. 

“Was that someone a woman with blue hair and dark brown eyes? Goes by the name of Marianne?”

“How did you know?” Byleth blurted out.

“I took a wild guess. Your answer confirmed things, though.”

Her mournful expression, however brief, made him feel a bit guilty for guessing correctly. He sought to make up for it with honeyed words. “Don’t feel bad. Marianne is not great at keeping secrets either, so I’m sure I would have found out the truth eventually. Did you tell her anything that would connect me to you? I’m assuming you said something, if she unlocked the aviary for you.”

“I didn’t really tell her anything…” Byleth’s voice trailed off. From the way she said that, he figured that she at least hinted at Claude in some non-verbal manner. That was no good, but he wasn’t going to pry anything else out of her right now. There was no point to it, not when Marianne wasn’t the kind of person to approach Claude about weird girls that want to visit his aviary. Not so openly, anyway.

“Did she do anything else for you? Just curious.”

“She healed my wing.” Byleth held up her aforementioned limb. “A little bit, anyway.”

“Does she know that your wing, and not your arm?”

No response again. Claude bit his lips to hold back a sigh. This story had too many plot twists for his liking. Then again, if anyone would help a harpy unconditionally, it would be Marianne. Still, he would have preferred it if she never found out about Byleth in the first place. Or any of the Golden Deer, really. Having her presence known made this whole ordeal a lot more complicated, not to mention dangerous.

Since Byleth wasn't going to reply with a real answer, Claude shook his head as if he was shaking those dismal thoughts away. “Nevermind that. Can I take a look at your wing?”

Byleth nodded, giving him permission to approach. He crouched down beside her and gently examined the splint on her right wing. It was a little slimy, undoubtedly from her dip into the pond, so he reminded himself to get supplies to redo it later. Or he could ask Marianne for her aid, seeing as she already knew Byleth’s identity, but he didn’t want to move things forward that quickly.

“It does look better.” Claude said as he released her wing. “I bet you’ll be flying in two weeks or so. A lot sooner than before, that’s for certain.”

And she would be leaving him sooner too. If Byleth had that same concerning thought, she didn’t indicate it. “I want Marianne to heal me again. She was nice.”

“Uh, I didn’t even know that white magic can heal harpies. So let’s talk about that later.” Claude deftly avoided the subject to bring up another important matter. “Really though, it’s not a good thing to be seen by so many people. You’re lucky that everyone you ran into were Golden Deer members, who are really a bunch of good boys and girls at heart, but don’t expect such kindness in the future. It only takes one mean person to ruin everything.”

Byleth didn’t respond with a yes. That would have been too easy, he supposed. She instead piped up with a tricky question. “How do you know that? Don’t you trust them?”

Claude gritted his teeth. He couldn’t help but wonder if her newfound defiance was just a phase or a result of her lost memories coming back. “I trust my allies to have my back in battle, but what they do or think outside of battle is beyond my reach. I don’t want you to find out the hard way that the world can be a cruel place.”

“I know it’s cruel. I broke my wing in order to save you.” Byleth said with a rare hint of emotion in her voice. “That’s why my time outside of the aviary was nice. I didn’t expect anyone to help a complete stranger like me. Even when one of them discovered that I was a harpy. You should have more faith in your friends.”

If only Byleth knew what she was asking for. “Maybe. But my point still stands. Please don’t do anything reckless. That’s all I want.”

Silence. It wasn’t the kind of silence that formed when Byleth was scared witless. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was deep in thought, and maybe also conversing with Sothis.

“Ok. I understand.” She finally said after much contemplation. 

“Thank you.” Claude felt like a weight was lifted from his chest, and he could breathe easily again. Even though Byleth had gone back on her words twice within the past 24 hours, he felt like he could believe in the answer she just gave him. That was quite the unusual feeling, considering how hard it was for him to trust others. 

For that, he decided to speak earnestly. “I know that it’s hard for you to be cooped up like this. A harpy belongs in the sky, not stuck in a wyvern's roost. But I promise you that it’ll be worth it when your wing heals completely and you can fly again. Before that happens, I have to get you through the next few weeks in one piece. Well, you and Sothis.”

“Thank you, Claude. I- We appreciate all that you've done for us." Byleth replied back just as earnestly. Claude couldn’t help but smile for real at her words, something that he never thought she could elicit from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative scene:
> 
> Byleth: What is 'fuck'?  
> Claude, in his head: fuck I messed up  
> Sothis: Oh sweet summer child
> 
> This chapter ended up being a bunch of rehashing but it was still fun to write. :P Next few chapters may come out slower as the upcoming arc is a bit of a doozy and I still haven't figured out the details to everything yet. I don't want to post something and then have to edit it later. I will hopefully have the important stuff done soon though!


	9. A Letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After agreeing to a dangerous mission, Claude gives a letter and more to Byleth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I think I've written a fair amount of this next arc so I'm going to get it started. Sorry for the wait! Hopefully the next updates won't take as long as this time.

At times, Claude was grateful for his massive collection of books. Even though his personal library had outgrown his study and now invaded every corner of his bedroom and then some, it enabled him to answer any sort of question, given enough time and patience. 

Well, most questions. His numerous books couldn’t explain where Byleth came from and other unexplained mysteries surrounding her. But they did provide some helpful insight on the pin that he presumed to have once belonged to Myson. After searching through his tomes on magical organizations, Claude managed to match the symbol on the pin to the insignia of Fhirdiad’s School of Sorcery. Upon further investigation, he also found out that Myson’s robes were similar to the ones its students wore, albeit torn and patched up by years of rugged living. It should have been obvious in retrospect, but Claude admitted that he was perhaps blinded by the thrill of possibly discovering a secret, shadowy organization that his books rarely spoke about. He should take this as a lesson to never discount the plainest solutions to his problems.

Learning the meaning behind the pin’s symbol was one thing. Extracting more information from this newfound discovery was another thing entirely. Claude had never personally visited the School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad, although he had heard of the highest of praises sung for its curriculum and its alumni. Honestly, he doubted that those that graduated from its esteemed halls were that praiseworthy, especially when he knew that Lorenz was one of them. 

Of all the people to ask favors from, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester was definitely the last person Claude would turn to. It wasn’t even because of his pompous attitude and his eternal fixation on noble duties. No, Claude’s hesitation stemmed from the fact that Lorenz inherited his father’s sharp mind, and could turn any favor into something he would later regret. Doubly so for a son of House Riegan, the house that had and continued to verbally spar with House Gloucester at the roundtables for generations. 

Yet he had no choice but to ask for his aid. Claude thought about ways around this predicament all of last night, and couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t spark an international incident. Still, he put those schemes on the backburner as he approached the door to Lorenz’s office. Just in case the nobleman asked too much of him in return.

“Do come in.” Lorenz’s voice rang out after Claude knocked on his door. When he made his entrance, the Gloucester heir tried to mask his surprise but failed.

“Oh? To what occasion do I owe this visit from our esteemed leader to?” He asked with a hint of irony in his voice.

“It’s nothing too serious.” Claude sat down at the chair across from Lorenz. He was actually speaking the truth for once, as long as he counted slightly shady requests as nothing too serious.

“What do you think of this?” He passed Myson’s pin to Lorenz. 

The purple-haired noble examined it warily, as if he was searching for any tricks Claude might be pulling instead of the actual object itself. “This bears the insignia of Fhirdiad’s School of Sorcery. I’m almost afraid to ask how you came across this.”

“Like I said, it’s nothing too serious.” Claude replied with a fake offended tone. “Remember the leader of the bandits we routed a while ago? The one that downed me with an Excalibur spell? The bandits that we captured called the man Myson, but I doubt that’s his real name.”

“How could I forget? That was the one of the few times your habit of gallivanting off on your own had consequences.”

“Yeah, anyway, while I was searching for any clues towards his identity, I came across this in the clearing I fought him in. If he really attended the School of Sorcery, we can find a substantial lead from its student records.”

Lorenz furrowed his eyebrows. “And this is where I come in.”

“That’s right.” Claude replied while ignoring his pointed expression. “I know you graduated from that school and you maintain favorable relations with one of the professors there. Surely it shouldn’t be too difficult to request some information from her, especially in the name of national security.”

“National security?” Lorenz scoffed. “Methinks that you’re taking this a bit too far. Why are you concerned over this one bandit, and not the trespasser from two days prior?”

“What, doesn’t he interest you?” Claude decided to not comment on Byleth’s misadventures, and instead focused on what he came here for. “This Myson person once enrolled in the most famous magical academy of all of Fodlan, yet somehow became a brigand that terrorized small villages in the Alliance. There has to be a story behind that, a story that can’t be written by one author alone. If this problem is left unchecked, who knows what it could spiral into?”

“So you wish for me to engage in some obviously problematic behavior in order to solve a hypothetical problem.” Lorenz didn’t lighten up at all, even after Claude’s short speech. “This manner of espionage is far from ‘not too serious’, like you previously suggested.”

“Well, when you use words like espionage, of course it doesn’t.” Claude shrugged. “I don’t need you to ask for much. Just Myson’s real name and his hometown. From there, I should be able to figure out the rest. You can even give me your friend’s contact information and I can write the letter, if you prefer to keep your pure noble hands out of this ‘problematic behavior’.”

“I think not!” Lorenz sounded more appalled at that suggestion than Claude’s main request. “She will not respond to inquiries from a stranger anyway, even a stranger from a distinguished house like yours.”

“So you agree?”

“Only if you agree to my end of the deal.”

“What is it? Do you want a bigger budget from the roundtable? More favorable trade routes?” Claude rattled off items that Count Gloucester often appealed for at the meetings in Derdriu, the ones he heard from his uncle anyway. To his surprise, Lorenz shook his head and acquired a gleam in his eyes as he leaned forward.

“I actually just received a letter from my father detailing a small band of Almyrans that have somehow managed to invade Gloucester territory. This group is incredibly small, only consisting of eight members, but that is what makes them so elusive. Repeated attempts to rout them have failed, as they always take flight whenever their odds are not favorable, but with the Golden Deer’s aerial capabilities, they should prove to be of little threat to us.”

“You can say my aerial capabilities. It’s ok.” Claude joked in order to hide his mounting anxiety. Of all the things Lorenz could have asked from him…

“It isn’t just about you.” Lorenz protested with narrowed eyes. “As you know, House Gloucester’s army is remarkable in many areas of combat, but aerial fighting is not one of those areas. Our territory mostly consists of flat plains that aren’t favorable to pegasi and wyverns, so our acuity with winged mounts is less well-developed than, say House Goneril or House Edmund.”

“And why turn to either of those houses when you’re part of a militia that already has everything you need to take on the Almyrans?” Claude finished Lorenz’s thought for him. “I’m just wondering how they got all the way to Gloucester in the first place. Fodlan’s Locket is usually pretty good at keeping them out.”

“I suspect it’s due to their small numbers. There was a skirmish at the border not too long ago, and this group may be a detachment that managed to slip through their defenses.”

Claude nodded thoughtfully. He had other ideas as to why they were all the way out here, but he didn’t care to share them out loud. Lorenz kept on talking without further prompting. “I know that it is an unspoken rule in the Golden Deer to deny missions that involve Almyrans, but I implore you to at least think about this one. These ruffians have attacked many farming villages of Gloucester as they fly further inland, leaving a trail of destruction and fear. If left unchecked, they could reach Riegan territory, and perhaps even Derdriu itself.”

“Duke Riegan wouldn’t let that happen.” Claude remarked. “Who knows if they’re even here to attack Derdriu anyway? If Almyra was serious about an invasion, they would do better than to send a tiny group that signals their very presence with constant raids.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. We can’t very well ask them to a tea party in order to suss out their true intentions, can’t we?”

That rare joke from Lorenz elicited a snort from Claude. Seeing him lower his guard urged Lorenz to continue speaking. “If you agree to undertake this mission, then I will share more details with you and the rest of the Golden Deer, as well as commit to the favor that you asked of me. However, if you think that this is too much to ask for, then I’m sure I can think of other requests. Or perhaps you can grant me an I.O.U. instead?”

“Let’s not get too hasty.” Claude shook his head. As troubling as this mission was, a promise to Lorenz for later was even worse. He took a moment to silently ponder over what was just explained to him. Truthfully, he had avoided facing Almyrans for personal reasons, but he knew he wasn’t able to dodge the matter forever. As the leader of the Alliance’s strongest peacekeeping force, fighting against one of the Alliance’s strongest enemies was an inevitability. He would be deluding himself if he thought otherwise.

But why now? When he was already dealing with Byleth and the trouble that followed in her wake? Maybe this was just another strange occurrence caused by her very presence. Nah. Claude couldn’t start believing in nebulous theories like that, or he would drive himself crazy. He instead chased that thought out his head as he weighed the pros and cons of this task. It certainly was the quickest and cleanest way to get Lorenz to accept his request. Plus, by accepting this mission, he would ward off any suspicions Lorenz or his other allies might have about his true allegiance. If Claude was a heartless man, then this would be an easy choice to make. Yet he wasn’t completely callous, and understood very well the meaning of his actions if he undertook what was supposed to be a simple rout mission. He understood what it would mean for his beliefs, and the goals he held close to his heart.

Now if he didn't take Lorenz up on this offer, two things could happen. Claude could suffer under a constant I.O.U., or he could give up on this entire venture and never learn who this bandit was. Maybe Lorenz was right and he was overreacting, but if Claude's gut feeling was right and this festered into a bigger problem, then everything he worked for so far could come crashing down. He couldn't let that happen. At least, not for the sake of Almyrans that probably wouldn't hold any hard feelings against him. 

“These Almyrans…” Claude murmured, drawing Lorenz’s attention. “What kind are we dealing with?"

"According to my father's letter, the group consists of three wyvern fighters, two wyvern archers, two corsairs, and one shaman." He responded.

"Are they flying any sort of colors?”

“None that my father cared to mention.”

“And does it matter to him if they are captured or killed?”

“It does not matter. But you know how Almyrans are. They would rather perish than fall into enemy hands.”

“That sounds about right.” Claude said simply while suppressing a melancholy sigh. “I’ll lead the Golden Deer against them. But there are a lot of preparations to be made, so let's not set out immediately. I'd rather not spend days upon days chasing guerilla fighters, so we must win our first fight against them.”

“Of course. I will write to my father about your decision, as well as draft a letter to my friend in Fhirdiad.” Thankfully, Lorenz seemed pleased by this outcome. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad that you are no longer sticking to that nonsensical rule of yours. We may be living through times of relative peace with the Almyrans, but that does not mean their minor skirmishes won’t evolve into a full scale invasion. Someone of your position cannot afford to take this threat lightly.”

“Don’t I know it.” Claude muttered to himself as he stood up. “I’m going to gather the rest of our companions for the rest of the briefing. After all, there’s no time like the present to start planning.”

* * *

Their meeting ended up taking most of the day, which left Claude with little time to spend on other matters like Byleth. He felt guilty about not visiting her, but not guilty enough to rectify that just yet. There were other tasks that he had to attend to first, some of which could only be done when night fell and he couldn’t be spotted by prying eyes. With the imminent battle on his mind, he became more cautious than usual, and thus took more precautions than usual. Claude snuck around the compound, gathering supplies and hauling them back to his bedroom.

His increased paranoia led him to think about Byleth anyway. To be more precise, it led him to think about what would happen to Byleth if he messed up. There was more than one way to fail this mission. Not only could he die, the others could also find out what he was really up to, and imprison him for that. The idea of having his secrets out in the open honestly scared him more than death. But either way, if he was incapacitated before Byleth’s wing healed, the harpy would be stuck in Vaida’s roost until it got cleaned out. And he didn’t dare think about what his fellow humans would do to her, the humans that Byleth said to have more faith in…

Claude had to come up with a contingency plan for her. He couldn’t leave her alone and hope for this best. But what could he do? As he crafted items and brewed potions in his room, he tried to figure out the best way to help her while keeping his secrets hidden. 

He was forced to reveal some secrets anyway in order to create something foolproof. Claude sat down at his desk and, with a quill and inkpot, wrote a letter. The words he scrawled were made of graceful curves and dots that flowed into each other, so unlike the rigid font favored by the people of Fodlan. And even though he was certain that no one except its intended recipient could decode it, he still kept his letter short and to the point. 

As an additional safeguard, Claude opted to not sign this parchment with any name. He instead reached into the drawer where he kept all of his dangerous potion ingredients and pulled out a long, dark brown feather that glimmered a dusty gold color when it caught the candlelight at a certain angle. He pinned the scroll shut with the feather's shaft, and then tied a few more pieces of paper around it with a string. 

Claude thought that he was going to stay up the entire night with how busy he was, but he managed to grab for a few hours of sleep before the next day's dawn arrived. Instead of immediately filling up his morning with more meetings and prep work, he decided to finally stop by Vaida's room to visit both his wyvern and the harpy. The former launched herself off her perch to greet her master, while the latter was only roused awake by the sudden movement.

"Good morning Vaida, Byleth, and Sothis." Claude made sure to greet the invisible girl he couldn't see as he patted the white wyvern's head. He was more cognizant of Sothis than ever after she helped Byleth out during their escapades and taught Byleth how to use magic.

"Good morning Claude." Byleth mimicked Claude's enunciation to make herself sound more enthusiastic and less sleepy.

"I'm sorry I didn't visit yesterday. I got completely caught up in important business. How are you feeling? Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"I'm fine. And nothing happened." Byleth stretched out her right wing ever so slightly, to show off the splint Claude replaced the day before yesterday. It was still intact, which was probably all he could hope for at this point, considering the weird happenstances that involved her.

"That's good. I didn't bring you any food today, but I will later. I just wanted to give you this first." Claude handed her the bundle of papers, along with a rope. Byleth accepted them with nary an emotion on her face.

"I'm going to be out on a dangerous mission with the Golden Deer for the next couple of days. I plan on coming back as soon as I can, but you and Sothis will be by yourself in the meantime. I'll provide you with enough food and water to last you and, in exchange, you better stay put this time."

"We will." Byleth replied instantly. "Are these supposed to buy my obedience?"

"No, nothing like that. Although, if it will encourage you to stay inside, you can think of them that way."

Silence. Claude continued on as if his joke didn't fall flat. "If I don't return in a few days, I want you to follow the instructions I've written and get out of here. I gave you a rope, which you should already know how to use, a map marked with a location you should head to, and a letter you should give to whoever you find there."

Byleth untied the documents, unveiling the letter with a feather fastened to it. She studied the feather with unblinking eyes, like it was the most important concern right now, not whatever Claude just told her.

"This is a pretty feather." She commented.

"Thanks." A slight blush tinged Claude's cheeks. "Don't lose it, ok? Without that feather, the letter is useless. You can even open up the letter and read it if you want, although I doubt you can understand it."

True to Claude's words, Byleth stared at the handwritten words blankly when she unfurled the letter right in front of him. He was sure that she couldn't read it, as several of his books that he lent to Byleth had notes in this language written in its margins or on scraps of papers used as bookmarks and she never mentioned anything about them.

"Why are you going through all this for me?" Byleth rolled the letter back up and pinned it shut again.

“Because if I die, or something else happens, before your wing heals up, then you’re basically a sitting duck here. In fact, without the ability to fly, you would be a sitting duck wherever you go. When you reach the person at this place, she’ll bring you to another place where you can be safe.”

“You trust this person with a harpy?” Byleth asked quizzically.

“Hey, just because I don’t trust most people doesn’t mean I don’t trust anyone at all.” Claude let out a soft laugh. He understood her confusion though, considering what he said to her a few days ago. Someone that earned Claude’s trust was a remarkable someone indeed. And, with this extremely personal gift, he was slowly admitting to himself that Byleth was becoming one of those someones too.

Byleth’s bewildered expression persisted on her face as she scrutinized the map. It didn’t look like she recognized the lay of the land now, but he was certain that she could figure it out once she got out there. After all, she managed to break out from the aviary with little guidance from Claude.

“This place… It can’t be a permanent refuge for me?”

“Fraid not. She would skin me alive if I dumped a burden as big as you on her." If Claude was still alive at that point anyway. “But the place she’ll lead you to… It can be a new home for you, if you’d like. I think you would be happier there than here.”

“It must be far away, isn’t it? It’s not marked on this map.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty far from here. And it’s dangerous to go there alone, which is why you should meet up with this person first.”

Claude hoped that by answering that question, she would shy away from this touchy topic, but her curiosity was still unsatiated. Byleth directed her gaze towards Claude as she spoke. “Why don’t you come with me?”

“Byleth, the whole point of this plan is to keep you safe if I’m not around.”

“I understand that. But maybe later, when I fully recover, we can visit there together. You think that I’ll be happier there, but I think that I’ll be happier there with you.”

Claude inhaled sharply. This harpy was so oblivious to the secrets he hid from the world, yet somehow, she was able to always choose the words that cut him the deepest. Such a trait should have alarmed him, caused him to throw up even more barriers around his heart. Instead, it endeared her to him even more. Why was that? Was it because he was interested in how she was so unconsciously perceptive? Or was it just refreshing to interact with someone so honest? He wondered for a second if Byleth's blunt attitude was in fact Sothis's, but he didn't think that was the case. He could tell that during these introspective instances, she spoke from her heart.

A worried look flickered across Byleth’s face, making him realize that he must appear seriously upset right now. He wiped his fluster away with a forced smile and a laugh. “Maybe later. For now, let’s just take this one day at a time. And this should go without saying, but don't show what I've given you to anyone.”

“I won't." Byleth nodded. "As long as you don't die on me."

Claude couldn't help but smile. If he heard that from anyone else, he would have assumed that they were joking. But from Byleth, it was a show of concern that he appreciated. "Don't worry. I have no plans of abandoning you anytime soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell, things are getting pretty spicy. If you're confused about what's going on with Claude, the next chapter should explain (mostly) everything. :3c


	10. A Piercing Shriek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the Golden Deer face off against some wayward Almyrans, Claude has plans of his own that may or may not work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I want to thank all my readers, commenters, and kudoers! This fic has reached over 100 kudos which is honestly amazing for an idea I thought was incredibly niche. You guys are awesome and I hope you'll continue reading!
> 
> Secondly, not only does this chapter have a lot of violence and injuries, it also has some racism and brief mentions of non-sexual nudity. And if you're wondering why this chapter has nudity, well, just keep reading.

Claude learned at a young age that life was rarely fair or convenient. That was why he always had plans upon plans for everything. He couldn’t just sit around and wait for everything to turn out fine. He had to move his pieces on the board in order to create favorable odds in the first place. It was tough sometimes, coming up with foolproof plots for situations that were clear as mud and as slippery as a fleeing cat, but the alternatives were much worse.

His philosophy paid off on days like today. According to Count Gloucester’s reports, the targeted Almyrans preferred to camp on any sort of elevation they could find. Unfortunately for them, the region of Gloucester consisted of flat, grassy plains marred by the occasional river or forest. These lands were perfect for agriculture, but not ideal for a squadron of flyers. They were forced to settle on a resemblance of a hill covered by a grove of trees. Still, this location did have some strategic merit for the Almyrans, even if it wasn’t as high as they would have liked. The area around the hill was completely level and devoid of cover. They would be able to see incoming troops from miles away and prepare accordingly. Conversely, the trees on the hill masked the Almyrans’ operations, making it hard for Alliance soldiers such as Claude to determine their fighting strength and their next move.

The terrain would also make it hard for Claude to pull off his schemes, but he wasn't the kind of guy to give up because of a minor setback. He was already modifying his plans as he flew in the skies alongside his own band of fliers. To his left and right were Hilda and Leonie, riding a wyvern and a pegasus respectively, and behind him was Marianne on a dark colored pegasus. These three women were the only members of the Golden Deer, besides Claude, that had enough skill with their flying mounts to survive an aerial dogfight with the Almyrans. The rest of the crew, Lorenz, Ignatz, Raphael, and Lysithea, were on the ground and trailed after the shadows above them that led them to the not-so-distant hill.

Claude surmised that their arrival would spur the Almyrans into action. Either they would rise up to meet them or to fly away and avoid confrontation. Honestly, he was willing to bet good money on the former option. Once they spotted him and his white wyvern specifically, there was no way they were going to just ignore him. But no matter the reason they took flight for, Claude and the others would spot them the moment they left the safety of their forest behind and the fight would begin in earnest.

The fight against Almyrans. Claude had steeled himself for this inevitability ever since Lorenz brought up the mission, but that didn't mean he didn't chase away all the butterflies in his stomach completely. Those butterflies must have given him a grim expression, because Hilda took notice even with the wind blowing in her face.

"Hey, Leader Man." She raised her voice to make herself heard. "I don't know why you were so dead set on not facing Almyrans before and really, it seemed kinda silly to me, but there's no reason to look so glum now! The rest of the Golden Deer can take care of these guys with no problem at all."

"What, you're actually counting yourself among our ranks this time?" Claude couldn't help but crack a joke.

"Well, I kinda have to, when I'm up here and right next to our esteemed leader. Thanks for that, by the way." Hilda rolled her eyes. 

"I would think that, being from House Goneril, you would be more gung-ho about this mission." Leonie piped up. "Aren't you guys trained to take on Almyrans all the time?"

"Kinda? My brother got more training than me, since he's the firstborn son and all that. So don't expect me to wipe them out all by myself! Especially since I don't have a Hero’s Relic like a certain someone I know…"

"Hey, Failnaught can't eliminate them single-handedly either." Claude remarked while clutching said bow in one hand. Truthfully, its energized arrows could probably down at least half of the Almyrans with enough luck and skill, but that wasn't what he was aiming for, both figuratively and literally.

"It's still going to help a lot." Leonie shouted back. "Not that I'm going to let your weapon do all the work for us anyway. I can do plenty with my plain old bow!"

"See, Leader Man? You have nothing to worry about with friends like Leonie." Hilda turned to Claude and winked. "Anyway, I don't really want to fight these gross Almyrans longer than I have to, so let's get this over with quickly, yeah?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Claude agreed before sparing a glance back towards the quiet Marianne. She hadn't said a word throughout the entire conversation, so he was just checking to see if she was still following them. It was apparent from her somber, downcast expression that she was worried about this mission. But she worried for everyone's safety, or was she also having doubts about facing the enemies? Claude usually would believe the first reason, but after everything she did for Byleth several days ago, he wasn't so sure anymore…

The hairs on the back of his neck stood at their end as a barely perceptible shadow floated over Claude and Vaida. He turned his gaze upwards and spotted a circling black dot way above them. Unlike the last time he saw such a dot, this one was a warning, rather than a good omen. His heart raced as he berated himself for overlooking the fact that not all of the Almyrans would be patiently waiting in the forest for their arrival. Claude had to act quickly before this simple mistake turned into a fatal one.

"Marianne, Blizzard! Everyone, scatter!"

Behind him, Marianne outlined a circle of sigils with her fingers and launched her spell with a flourish. The sudden gust of ice and snow was aimed upwards, at the rapidly descending black dot. Usually, the whistling winds would have drowned out any battle cries that rang out in its midst, but Claude could very clearly hear a piercing shriek through the snowstorm. To other people, it would have sounded like a furious bird of prey, or a garbled scream from something otherworldly. But to Claude, it was a proclamation that chilled him to his very bones.

“[TRAITOR!!]”

The Blizzard spell didn’t stop their foe completely, but it did slow its dive long enough to let the four of them break formation and avoid the aerial attack. Claude, in particular, narrowly avoided getting clipped by the shadow’s claws by swerving to the left at the last possible second. The black dot, which was more of a black blur at this point, plummeted past him and spread its wings out to halt its fall and swoop back up towards the group in one fluid motion.

While the black blur flew, Claude took a brief moment to study it, only for a surge of anxiety to wash over any rational thought. He had anticipated seeing at least one feminine figure with bird wings, legs, and tail during this fight. But he didn’t expect to see someone so familiar. He might have dismissed her midnight blue plumage and mahogany skin as a coincidence, as those were common traits in Almyran harpies. But there was no mistaking the hatred in her amber eyes as she honed in on Claude. 

Even though Lamassu was out for his blood, he was more determined than ever to make his plan work. After all, he would have a lot to explain to her father if he killed her.

She wasn’t going to let him do that so easily. Her talons, outfitted in gleaming silver gauntlets, reached out to shred him to bits, only to be intercepted by Leonie’s lance. Those wicked claws wrapped around the shaft of her weapon instead, and attempted to yank it out of her hands. Leonie grunted as the two of them engaged in a brief struggle that ended when Hilda swung her axe out at the harpy. The harpy had to let go of the lance in order to dodge. 

“Thanks, Hilda!” Leonie shouted before turning back towards Claude. “Hey, Claude! Pay attention! You can’t die to these monsters!”

Claude wordlessly acknowledged Leonie’s concern by aiming Failnaught at the harpy. That’s right. He couldn’t die here either. As much as he loathed to admit it, his aspirations were worth more than an old friend’s hurt feelings. He had to lead the Golden Deer into battle if he wanted his plan to succeed.

So he fired away. Lamassu dodged his poorly aimed arrow, as well as several others from Leonie. While she swerved around the arrows hurled at her, she took the time to hurl her own weapon of choice at Claude. The Almyran language, specifically the harpy dialect, sounded like harsh bird-like screeching peppered with clicks and grunts, but Claude unfortunately understood her perfectly. 

“[I should have known that you turned your back on your motherland when you went missing! But now you dare to side with wingless inferiors and point your bow at me?! Shedu was right! You are a hopeless cause! I should kill you and let your spilled blood pay for the crimes you have committed!]”

Claude had to pretend that he didn’t understand her at all, but there were other things that took his mind off of her. Lamassu’s rant caused her comrades hidden in the forest below to take off, like how a loud noise could startle a flock of birds into flight. True to Count Gloucester’s report, there were five wyvern-riding humans and two other harpies. The humans wielded either an axe or a bow and wore metal armor brightened with colorful fabrics tied around their waist and shoulders. Their outfits made the lack of clothing on the harpies more apparent, and probably more disturbing to the rest of the Golden Deer who weren’t used to it. Although Claude did notice a yellow and red sash with intricate patterns and beads wrapped around Lamassu’s torso. That sash, combined with her earlier words, explained a lot about their current predicament.

Time to act like the Leader Man everyone thought he was. “Everyone, regroup with the ground forces! Don't get surrounded by the Almyrans!” Claude barked out.

The four of them began their descent while keeping their attention on the enemies. Meeting up with their landbound allies would have been an easy task if it weren’t for the ranged attackers among the Almyrans. One of the harpies, a male remarkably similar in appearance to Lamassu, commanded the pair of wyvern archers flying behind him to unleash their arrows while he pulled several sharpened feathers from belts tied around his legs. Even though he relied on the sheer strength of his leg muscles to throw them, his feathers still flew as far as the arrows that were propelled by a drawn bowstring. Projectiles rained down on Claude, Hilda, Leonie, and Marianne, who did their best to weather the torrent by dodging and shielding. They couldn’t escape completely unscathed. Claude heard a yelp from Leonie as an arrow struck her pegasus’s flank and an earsplitting roar from Hilda’s wyvern as a harpy feather sliced its tail. In order to stop the Almyrans’ assault, Claude vaporized a good chunk of arrows by firing a bolt of red lightning from Failnaught that also almost struck one of the wyvern archers. His barrage paused while he swerved away from that, granting the Golden Deer a precious break that allowed them to reconvene.

Shouts from below heralded the start of their counterattack. Ignatz's arrows intermingled with Lorenz's fireballs and Lysithea's shadowy orbs, forming an unstoppable attack that forced the Almyrans back. Leonie and Marianne added their own arrows and magic to cement their decisive blow further. Claude was the only ranged attacker that didn’t join in, but he didn’t have to. His heart sank as one of Lorenz’s Fire spells connected squarely with a wyvern fighter, engulfing both rider and mount in wrathful flames. He feared the worst as the pair plunged towards their doom, and so did Lamassu judging from her frantic shouting, but then her cries were interrupted by a calming yet unwavering song that pierced through the din of combat. Its crystal clear notes somehow took on a luminous form that wreathed the falling Almyran in an aura of light. The light managed the unthinkable and healed the burns from Lorenz’s magic, enabling the wyvern to right itself. Claude spotted the source of the magical song in the backlines of their foes, a harpy with chestnut brown skin, white and black plumage and hair, and a wooden staff topped with a glowing stone in her talons. Then he was forced to turn his attention back to the healed wyvern fighter, who shakily but surely regained altitude to rejoin his allies.

The close fatality should have made Lamassu and the other Almyrans more wary, but it instead galvanized them. The staff-wielding harpy, named Anqa according to Lamassu’s commands, began to sing another song, one with a more vivacious tone. Almost immediately, a brisk wind whipped around the battlefield. The newly formed tailwind blew at the backs of the Almyrans, hastening their movements, and blew in the faces of the Golden Deer. This proved to be more than a simple annoyance as the Almyrans launched themselves into the fray with unprecedented zeal. Steel clashed against steel, a deluge of arrows and feathers filled the air, and some of the wyvern riders managed to break through Hilda's and Leonie's defense to reach the grounded troops. Lorenz shouted frantic commands to ensure everyone's safety during the breach. He and Raphael brandished their lance and gauntlets respectively before throwing themselves in front of the vulnerable Ignatz and Lysithea. 

He couldn't see what happened after that, because an ear-splitting shriek diverted Claude's attention from the ground. Lamassu too tore through any opposition in her way, only she was aiming for Claude instead of the other Golden Deer. She danced around arrows and spells like a leaf on the wind, barely sustaining any damage until she was right on top of him. 

Claude pulled out a sword from his belt in order to block her talons that would have ripped his head off. Sparks flew as her metal reinforced claws beat against his blade repeatedly. He couldn't use Failnaught during such close quarters combat, nor could he work on his plan to spare the Almyrans. He couldn't even come up with retorts to the various insults she spat in his face. Claude had to focus every ounce of energy on this aerial duel of life and death, or else a grisly fate awaited him. 

"[Coward! Wing thief! Traitor!]" Each unflattering title punctuated the song they created with a sword and gauntlets. And the tempo ended up being too fast for Claude. Invigorated by the magically summoned tailwind, Lamassu managed to power through a parry and score deep gashes on his sword arm. Claude shouted in pain as blood soaked his sleeve, the same blood that suddenly sparked into an invisible flame that burned through his veins. He swung his sword out wildly, desperate to land a blow, and carved a single, bloody cut on her leg that almost chopped it off. A glowing symbol in the shape of a crescent moon flared to life over his chest and seemed to drink in the life force escaping from Lamassu's injury. While the harpy screamed in agony and swears, Claude's arm no longer bled.

"Claude! Are you hurt?" Marianne's voice rang out beside him. Claude could actually afford to answer her, since the harpy had retreated in order to have her leg healed. 

"I don't need healing." Claude replied, despite the fact that his arm still ached a bit. He couldn't have Lamassu coming back and distracting him from the plan that would save the very soldiers she fought alongside with. To avoid a second round with her, he needed to both stop the tailwind and to prevent her from getting healed.

And he could kill two (metaphorical) birds with one (metaphorical) stone. "Marianne, I need you to silence the shaman." Claude pointed at the white-and-black feathered harpy in the distance.

"I-I'll do my best!" She replied in a shaky voice. White light glowed around her hands clasped together in a prayer. Marianne closed her eyes for a split second as she recited her spell, then both opened her eyes and spread her hands open at the final word. Her conjured light dissipated into twinkling dust, only to reappear around the singing harpy. The holy light snuffed out the foreign light emitted from Anqa's staff and halted her songs by extinguishing the sounds that came from her throat.

The whistling winds died down with the shaman's song. The resulting silence was almost deafening, and it was apparent that some reacted to the change in atmosphere better than others. The wyvern riders that were harassing Lorenz's team, not wanting to be caught in a bad place without their tailwind, retreated back into the skies as fast as they could. But they were not completely safe in the air either. A pink-haired woman atop a ferocious wyvern swooped in to attack an Almyran that straggled behind. Above her chest flashed a sun-like insignia that fueled her axe swing. Her suddenly burst of energy tore through the Almyran's armor and his heart, rendering the human limp in his wyvern's saddle before he dropped to the earth like a stone.

“[I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!]” Lamassu screeched. The winds were no longer in her favor and one of her feet still bled profusely, but that didn’t stop her or her fellow Almyrans from seeking vengeance for their fallen comrade. Fortunately, Hilda had a devious mind of her own and knew that she couldn’t win against a corsair and two wyvern riders alone. She retreated closer to the Golden Deer team on the ground and allowed their arrows and magic to ward off the otherwise resilient fighting force. Despite Lamassu’s rage, she and her battalion didn’t blindly charge into their range, since their healer was currently disabled and couldn’t support them if they got into trouble. However, their wariness couldn’t save one of the wyvern fighters from being clipped by a Sagittae spell. While the wounded warrior tumbled through the air, Claude sensed the opportunity to act. He pulled a normal arrow from the quiver on his back, one fletched with dusty gold feathers and carved with strange characters on its shaft. After spending more time than he anticipated to aim it, he muttered a quick apology under his breath and fired away.

The wyvern roared as his arrow dug into its right shoulder. It flapped its wings with increasingly sluggish movements while it struggled to stay aloft. Its rider shouted something intelligible in order to steady its flight, but the two of them still sank in a slow and deliberate descent. Claude could only watch them for a little bit longer, long enough to see that they landed safely on the ground, before movement behind him tore his attention away from one battlefront and towards another. 

The other harpy corsair, who Claude now recognized as Shedu, was making a beeline towards Marianne with a pair of wyvern archers at his back. Marianne was currently focused on maintaining her silence spell, so she couldn’t fight back against the arrows and feathers they unleashed against her. She could only deftly maneuver her pegasus through the onslaught of projectiles. Leonie noticed the predicament she was in and tried to help by firing off her own arrows at the enemies. Several of them connected with the wyvern archers, but whether by resilience or sheer stubbornness, they remained airborne and countered with several arrows that Leonie narrowly dodged.

Claude hated to turn his back towards Lamassu, who he deemed the most dangerous foe here, but he needed to protect Marianne. If she fell, then the Golden Deer would be routed before he could finish his plan. So with another poisoned arrow already at his fingertips, he and Vaida flew towards Shedu and the wyvern archers and let loose a rapid succession of arrows. Since the wyvern-riding Almyrans were already somewhat injured and were mostly focused on Marianne and Leonie, shooting them out of the sky would be like shooting a fish in a barrel.

But he didn’t want to just shoot them out of the sky. He watched with anticipation as one arrow buried into a wyvern’s side while another struck the second wyvern’s haunches. The pair of winged beasts bellowed as they fought against the toxins seeping through their scales, but they couldn’t last forever. As they succumbed to Claude’s handiwork, their riders guided them towards the ground in languid circles. To his relief, they landed without much impact some distance away from the Golden Deer. 

Shouts from the third foe Claude had intentionally missed drew his gaze. Shedu wore a calmer expression that contrasted greatly with Lamassu’s wrathful one, but his words still smoldered with palpable fury and contempt.

“[I see you’re still up to your old tricks but what did you hope to accomplish? Unlike a certain half-breed I know, my forces won’t surrender just because they’re grounded. They will fight to the very end, no matter what! As will I!]”

To prove himself right, Shedu grabbed a feather-dagger strapped to the belts around his legs and threw it in one fluid motion that was too fast for Claude to stop. The feather buried itself into Marianne’s left palm, eliciting a shriek from the woman and dispersing the holy light around her hands. As soon her Silence spell was gone, the shaman on the backlines began to sing again. Her haunting melody this time stirred up a glowing, white aura around her fellow Almyrans. In retaliation, Leonie charged at Shedu with a lance in hand, not minding the strange aura that wreathed her new foe.

But Claude knew that everyone, both the Golden Deer and the Almyrans, were going to be in big trouble if he let the shaman’s song continue. That aura healed all wounds the Almyrans received during battle, which included the various scratches Leonie inflicted on Shedu and the laceration he himself left on Lamassu’s leg. Now that the angry harpy was no longer hindered by her bad leg, she threw herself back into the fray alongside her remaining wyvern fighter. Hilda fought valiantly against the duo, acting as the lone shield of her earthbound friends. If Claude was right next to her, he would compliment her on her ‘newfound’ courage. 

He instead focused on his plan that was currently falling apart. Claude managed to disable three wyvern riders, but he couldn’t stop to pat himself on the back just yet. He had one wyvern rider and three harpies left, and those three feathered troublemakers were going to be difficult to subdue. Plus he still had to take care of the Golden Deer, because a victory wouldn’t be a victory if one of them fell. 

Well alright, it would still be a victory if one of them fell. Or two of them. In fact, some of his allies had to get hurt in order for the next step of his increasingly messy plan to work. He couldn't risk them getting in his way, so if he had to hold them back with some misdirection, then so be it.

“Leonie! I need you to back off!” Claude barked at her. "You can't win by yourself!"

“Who says I can’t!" Leonie shouted back while deflecting a talon strike.

“This is no time to play hero! Let me take care of him!"

Leonie didn’t respond immediately, but her actions showed that she wasn't going to hand the matter over just yet. In fact, Claude's words spurred her to work even harder. She kept swinging her lance around to parry attacks and knock away thrown feathers, despite the fact that any damage from her own strikes were basically mitigated by the shaman's song. 

That’s Leonie for you. Whenever she locked herself into a fierce battle, she always felt the need to prove herself and refused to seek help from anyone else. Normally this determination of hers was an annoying trait, but right now it was actually conducive to Claude’s plans. Instead of helping Leonie, he flew over to Marianne, who was basically staying away from all the action in fear of being caught in her weakened state. While he escorted her to the ground for healing, a high-pitched whinny from above indicated that Leonie's persistence got her into trouble. One of Shedu's feathers slashed at her pegasus's wing, cutting away a decent chunk. The pegasus tried to steady itself so Leonie could keep fighting, but it was rapidly losing the strength to fly.

"Leonie!" Claude exclaimed with some genuine concern. Maybe he shouldn’t have let the fight go _that_ far.

“I’m alright!” Leonie yelled as the pegasus’s flight wobbled, a clear sign that she in fact wasn’t alright. 

“Go and get healed! I’ll deal with the corsair!” Claude swooped back in for another round against Shedu. As soon as he was in range, he barely had enough time to shoot a thrown feather out of the sky. Shedu said nothing while he hurled dagger after dagger that Claude did his best to dodge or block. His silence would have been a relief from Lamassu's loud insults if this duel wasn’t so serious. Claude couldn’t even retaliate against him yet. If his aim was true and managed to shoot down the harpy, he would be surrounded by the Golden Deer, and there would be no saving him.

Claude had a different idea to lift himself out of this predicament. He aimed his bow at Lamassu instead. Shedu’s expression darkened as he threw a feather-dagger with the intent of knocking his arrow off course. It bounced off of Failnaught’s hard surface, unable to leave a scratch but at least able to jerk Claude’s arm enough so that his arrow of red lightning missed Lamassu’s head by several feet. 

That was a very helpful reaction. Claude gave a cocky smile to Shedu before spurring Vaida towards Lamassu and Hilda. He made it to the scene just in time to witness shadowy flames immolate the last wyvern rider. He realized with despair that neither his poisoned arrow nor Anqa’s healing magic would be able save the Almyran from the sheer, destructive force of Lysithea’s dark magic. The spine-chilling shrieks from her and her mount lingered in the air while they spiraled towards the ground in freefall. He was sure that they would linger in his ears even after the battle was over, but if there was an upside to this unfortunate turn of events, now he could just focus on ensuring the safety of the harpies.

As much as he hated to admit it, Lamassu was the lynchpin of the final act of his plan. He was relying on her hot-headedness and her ever-shifting priorities to win the day. Once Claude and Vaida were only several meters away from her, he ordered the white wyvern to roar as loud as she could. Vaida’s magnificently sonorous cry drowned out all other sounds of battle, save for the words he reserved just for his childhood acquaintance.

“[If I’m the one you want, then come get me you brainless hen!]”

Claude accentuated his challenge by firing an arrow of turquoise, windy energy just above her head. He couldn’t help but smirk at her stunned expression as he rocketed by her and towards the forested hill. Lamassu let out a defiant shout right before she peeled away from Hilda to follow him. Hilda appeared just as shocked as her opponent, and tried to finish the fight between them, only to be halted by an opportunistic feather-dagger that tore through her wyvern’s wing membrane. She yelped as she struggled to control her wyvern’s flight, just as another harpy barreled past her.

Not wanting to be left behind, Anqa the shaman trailed after her two remaining companions. Now that he had the attention of the three harpies, it was time to pull off a risky maneuver that would either earn him boundless praise, endless scoldings, or death. Once they were hovering the hilltop, he closed his eyes, gripped Failnaught or, to be more precise, Failnaught’s gem, and meditated on the invisible power thrumming through his body. His bow quivered ever so slightly as a crescent moon made of blue light flickered over his chest. With the Crest of Reigan active and in tune with his Hero’s Relic, Claude could feel the many wind currents around him, the wind currents that told him when and where his enemies were going to strike. He tapped on Vaida gently to roll her away from a thrown feather, and yanked on her reins to pull her away from a pair of gauntlets. Because he was so in-tune with the very air, he couldn’t focus on his foes’ expressions, but if he did choose to open his eyes, he was sure that they would be wearing satisfyingly astonished faces at the moment.

As remarkable as his Crest’s power was, Claude couldn’t win this fight just by dodging all the time. That’s why he aimed Failnaught upwards and fired off the energy he had been building up. To the Almyrans, it looked like he shot at the sky with impunity. He could hear their jeers and insults, but that senseless noise was just reassurance that they didn’t know what was coming next. Claude made sure that they remained in the dark, weaving around strikes and guiding the harpies into the exact positions he wanted them in. Then he opened his eyes just in time to see that his arrow of red lightning had splintered into three parts that careened towards his opponents like falling stars, One scorched the tip of Shedu’s wing, another clipped Anqa’s tail feathers, and the last arrow pierced through the middle of Lamassu’s right wing, leaving behind a gaping hole and ashes for feathers. Unable to keep aloft, she spiralled towards the ground in a fashion similar to the arrow that rendered her helpless, while Claude dove after her. The other two harpies weren’t completely incapacitated by his arrows, but the crimson bolts jolted enough to send them into a tailspin as well.

Lamassu had crash landed in a thicket. She was picking her way out of the leafy and twiggy tangle when Vaida alighted next to her. Claude dismounted immediately in order to press his boot on her good wing and point at her head with his drawn sword. Lamassu attempted to fight against him, but couldn’t muster the strength to do more than wriggle and glare. 

Which was a good thing. He had switched to his blade because Failnaught’s gem lost its luster after drawing so much power from it. To use it again right after his stunt would just burn out what little energy remained in it, and might also burn out his own body too. His legs felt like gelatin and his arms struggled to resist the alluring pull of gravity. Despite that, Claude had to maintain the appearance of a victor, in order to quell any further rebellion.

He heard cracking branches as Shedu and Anqa landed right behind him. With a stern command, Vaida perked up and snapped her jaws at them, shielding Claude from Lamassu’s would-be saviors.

“[Now that we’re all here, without any onlookers, can we finally just talk?]” Claude asked. His Almyran was rusty after years of disuse, but he was certain his exasperated tone and tired expression conveyed what his tongue missed.

“[I have nothing to discuss with a traitor.]” Lamassu spat. “[Finish the job already, you coward.]”

“[I didn’t come here with the intention to kill you or your friends.]” Claude retorted back. “[You would know that if you paid attention to the ‘fallen’ instead of trying to kill everyone.]”

“[A fallen Almyran is a dead Almyran. That’s how it’s always been, and always will be. And I’m no exception.]”

“[I’m. Not. Going. To. Kill. You. Otherwise I would have shot my arrow through your heart instead of your wing.]” It infuriated him that Lamassu was just as thick-skulled as he remembered. Claude dared to avert his gaze away from her in order to stare at Shedu and Anqa. “[Hey Shedu, do you want me to kill your sister?]”

Shedu’s amber eyes widened in shock at the brazen question. After a pause, he replied with a quiet “[No.]”

“[What about you, Anqa? That’s your name right?]” Claude turned to the unfamiliar harpy.

“[I don’t want her to die. Please don’t kill her.]” Her voice was as melodious as her Galdrs, the magical songs that changed the elements to ensure victory. 

“[See? No one here cares if you break that dumb rule except for you. Everyone wants you to live.]” Claude was honestly glad that those were answered truthfully, otherwise he wouldn’t have any other choice. “[So what will it be? Do you really want to traumatize your dear twin brother with the memory of your pitiful death forever?]”

Lamassu’s hateful glare burned a hole in Claude’s forehead, but when she glanced at the harpies standing behind him and Vaida, the fire in her eyes died down ever so slightly. Claude took that as a sign of agreeance and lifted his foot from her wing. She scrambled upright, but didn’t push herself to stand. That injury must be agonizing her too much for any deliberate movements.

“[I don’t have a lot of time before the rest of the humans get here, so please answer my questions straightforwardly.]” Claude addressed the three of them. “[What in the sky spirit’s name are you all doing so far from Almyra?]”

Lamassu didn’t look the slightest bit ashamed as she replied. “[I thought you figured it out already. I’m here for you.]”

“[I figured that you were on your Reclamation Trial, yeah.]” Claude eyed the colorful sash around her waist, the only piece of clothing she wore. “[But what do I have to do with it? Did you come all the way out here for my help?]”

She laughed in a raucous way that reminded him of a blackbird’s cry. “[Moron. I don’t need your help. I’m here to Reclaim _you_.]”

Now it was Claude’s turn to laugh. Fortunately for him, there was nothing bird-like about his laugh, although it was a bit wheezy due to fatigue. “[If you’re here to Reclaim me, why were you trying to kill me? My father definitely wouldn’t award you with the rank of Barbarossa if you presented him my dead body.]”

“[What was I supposed to think when you flew at me with your own band of elite fighters?]” Lamassu snarled. “[We didn’t survive this long in enemy territory by asking questions first.]”

“[And that bow of yours is pretty scary…]” Anqa mentioned with a tremble.

“[But if you did ask first, those two soldiers wouldn’t have to die.]” Claude murmured bitterly. The sight of Almyrans falling to the earth, beyond his reach, still harrowed him even during this moment of peace.

“[They knew the risks, and fought with valor and ferocity that honored Almyra. We will give them a warrior’s funeral when we return home.]” Lamassu stated plainly, like that was the end of the story.

But Claude had a different opinion on that matter. His voice was perhaps a touch too venomous when he spoke, judging from how the others flinched.

“[No.]”

“[No?]”

“[There’s no 'we'. I’m not going back to Almyra with you guys. Their deaths, this whole battle was pointless. Didn’t my mother and father tell you that I’m here on my own accord?]”

Their silence confirmed his worst fears. Sure, he hadn’t written to his parents in a long while, but he expected them to handle his disappearance better than this. “[Seriously? They didn’t say anything?]” He blurted out.

“[Lamassu didn’t exactly make her ambitions known in the first place.]” Shedu spoke in her stead. “[But most of us thought that when you disappeared on your own Reclamation Trial six years ago, you were dead. Lamassu was one of the few that hoped you were still alive, either imprisoned by the people of Fodlan or too ashamed to return.]”

“[Hope is a strong word.]” Lamassu rolled her eyes. “[I had a hunch, more like. But I didn’t expect to find you a commander of humans. I’m really curious as to how that happened.]”

“[Do they even know that you aren’t like them?]” Shedu asked.

“[They must not. Just look at him.]” Lamassu gestured at Claude’s entire body with a sweep of her unharmed wing. “[Baggy clothes. Not a hint of feathers. I suppose looking like a plucked chicken is something you wanted too?]”

“[What would your dear mother think if she saw you like this?]” Her brother joined in on the teasing.

“[Enough of that.]” Claude snapped. Just because he was in company with people that actually knew who he was didn’t mean he wanted his secrets spoken out loud. “[She and Father know what I’m doing here. I’m not coming back yet because I still have my own Reclamation trial to finish.]”

Lamassu laughed again, this time adding a high pitched shriek to her caws. “[Who’s ever heard of a Reclamation trial that lasts for six years?! What are you even looking for?]”

“[I bet he’s still looking for proof that the legends in his books exist.]” Shedu suggested, much to Claude’s chagrin. He regretted ever mentioning his own Trial in the first place.

“[What I’m doing here doesn’t matter.]” He tried to deflect further talk on that topic. “[We don’t have enough time left for you two to make fun of my life decisions. I need everyone to do what I say, so the other humans don’t kill you when they come to check out what happened.]”

“[Are they going to capture us instead?]” Anqa interjected with a bit of a timid whine in her voice.

“[And what of our remaining troops, the ones you poisoned?]” Shedu asked.

“[They’re not going to capture you. I got something better in mind. And as for the poisoned troops...]” 

Claude pulled one of his poisoned arrows out of his quiver and tossed it to Shedu. Shedu caught it expertly, taking care to not ruffle the umber feathers at its end. If he recognized their significance already, then he probably already guessed what the answer to his question was.

Lamassu, however, sounded incredulous when she spoke. “[Do you really think that your feathers would convince our soldiers to stand down? You’re not even a prince anymore! You left that title behind when you ran away from home!]”

“[I didn’t run away, I went on my Reclamation trial. There’s a big difference. And if you think I abandoned my title, try asking my father about it sometime.]” Claude flashed a smile to hide his bluff. He honestly didn’t know what his father thought of his wayward son at the moment. For all he knew, the current King of Almyra got tired of waiting for his return and disowned him already. It would certainly explain why everyone else thought he was dead or a traitor.

“[Besides, the message on the shaft aren’t really royal declarations. I was just making a very strong suggestion and added my feathers to tip the odds in my favors.]”

Lamassu scoffed as her eyes scanned over the letters etched into the wood. “[Strong suggestions aren’t enough to persuade honorable Almyrans like my men.]”

“[I dunno, the threat of death can be very convincing. After all, it turned you around, didn’t it?]”

That got her to shut up. Claude took her lack of a retort as agreeance and grabbed several vials of thick, red liquid out of his bag. Lamassu had already made up her mind about his plan before he even told her it, and wrinkled her face to show her disgust. Claude pointedly ignored her defiance while he showed the vials to Shedu and Anqa.

“[I’m going to fake your deaths with fake blood. There’s nothing real about it, I promise. It’s going to look gross and smell bad, but the more vile this stuff is, the less likely the humans will go around poking you. All you guys have to do is lie down and pretend I killed you.]”

“[That’s your grand plan?]” Lamassu glowered at Claude. “[I’d rather brawl my way out of here than suffer such humiliation!]”

“[Feel free to. Just remember that you’ll be fighting eight very capable people that bested you once before.]” Claude tapped on Failnaught strapped on his back. “[And if you lose, then I can’t guarantee that you’ll be spared again.]”

“[Sister, please just do as he says.]” Shedu sighed. To Claude’s surprise, that simple request was enough to make Lamassu relent.

He couldn’t complain about that. They already wasted so much precious time on explanations and arguments. To make up for their loss, Claude sounded as stern as possible as he commanded them to lie down and stay down. He didn’t make any attempt to gentle with his application of the fake blood in order to make this murder scene more believable. He smeared the odorous stuff all over their bodies, dripped splatters all over the ground, created pools that all but drowned the harpies, and smeared what remained all over his clothes and Vaida’s scales. He almost vomited from the stench of the fake blood, but if his desensitized nose was affected this much, then that meant that he was doing a good job.

“[After we leave, stay here until nightfall. I’ll come find you so I can tell you my plans to free the Almyrans we captured.]” Claude told them in the midst of his finishing touches. He had Vaida scrape the ground and break branches off of trees while he grabbed some of Shedu’s daggers and tossed them around carelessly. He had a feeling that maybe he was overdoing things, but it was better to go overboard than to do too little in a situation like this. Besides, the rest of the Golden Deer didn’t have much experience with harpies, so anything could be believable when it came to them. 

The flap of wings overhead heralded that time was up for Claude. He commanded Vaida to stand protectively over Shedu and Anqa, like she had caught prey, while he worked on looking like a complete mess. By the time Hilda, Leonie, and Marianne landed their mounts in the thicket, Claude was able to muster a relieved smile and wave his bloodied sword to greet them.

“By the Goddess, what happened here?!” Lorenz exclaimed as he dismounted from Marianne’s pegasus. Claude wasn’t too terribly surprised to see him, since of course Count Gloucester’s son would want to make sure this mission succeeded properly, but he was startled by the hint of concern in his scrutinizing stare.

“Are you hurt, Claude? Let me heal you.” Marianne rushed over to his side, hand outstretched and wreathed with white magic. 

“I’m not hurt. My Crest took care of everything.” Claude took a step back to make sure that Marianne didn’t lay a single finger on him. Being the skilled healer she was, she would know when someone actually did or didn’t need healing.

“I bet it did! What was that trick you did in the sky, when you shot down all three harpies at once?” Hilda sounded mightily impressed. “I’ve never seen anything like it! It almost makes me want to borrow Freikugel from my brother.”

“Really?” Claude gave her an astonished look.

“Not really. It would take way too much work to pull off something that.”

“I feel you. I’ve been practicing that technique for a while, but using it in an actual battle left me exhausted. It kinda feels like I stayed up all night studying for an exam that consisted of only one answer, and then after I finished it, my sleep deprivation just kicked in all at once.”

“What on earth is that supposed to mean?” Lorenz narrowed his eyes at Claude’s peculiar explanation. 

“I’m surprised you had enough energy to take care of them afterwards.” Leonie interrupted Lorenz to gesture towards the ‘dead’ bodies with a sweep of her arms. 

Oops. A little inconsistency there. Claude shrugged off her comment with an actual shrug and a casual remark. “Once I clipped their wings, it wasn’t that hard to kill them. Harpies weren’t made to fight on land after all.”

Except for Byleth, maybe. Leonie crouched down a few feet away from Lamassu, her face contorted from the smell. Claude was admittedly worried about her keen eyes and hunter instincts, but luckily for him, the odor was keeping her far enough away that she couldn’t pick up on the truth. The smell also kept Hilda, Lorenz, and Marianne at bay. The former two made their grievances obvious by gagging and covering their noses while the latter just stared at the scene somberly.

“Phew! Who knew that harpies stank so much even when they’re dead!” Hilda complained loudly. Her words were music to Claude’s ears.

“Leonie, don’t even think about touching them!” Lorenz called out to her as she crept around the bodies and puddles of ‘blood’. “Harpy blood is corrosive! A single drop will eat away at your skin until it reaches the bone!”

“Don’t worry! I’m not that stupid!” Leonie backed away to prove her point. Claude smiled inwardly at that brief exchange. That was a completely baseless rumor of course, but one that served him well.

“Um, if Claude is ok, then can we leave?” Marianne murmured. “The others are waiting with our prisoners and… all this death is horrific…”

“Yeah. Let’s leave.” Claude took any excuse to get out of here before something could go wrong. He moved to climb onto Vaida’s back, but stopped when Lorenz apparently disregarded his own advice to creep towards Lamassu’s body.

“Lorenz? What are you doing?”

“I imagine that my father would like proof of our victory over the Almyrans.”

“What, our prisoners aren’t enough proof?”

“They are, but to defeat not just one, but three of Almyra’s famed harpies as well is an extraordinary feat. It would be a shame to leave behind evidence of such an accomplishment.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to bring a body back home!” Hilda whined. “If you do, I’m not helping you carry it!”

“Oh, I’m not that vulgar or reckless!” Lorenz scoffed. “I think… Yes. That sash will be sufficient.”

Several things happened at once as he reached for the piece of bright fabric tied around Lamassu’s waist. The harpy suddenly rose from the dead to kick out with her feet. Claude launched himself in the way of her talons to push Lorenz back. As she inadvertently clawed at his arm, Hilda dashed in and swung a fist at the back of Lamassu’s head, landing a solid hit that knocked her out. Then, upon seeing the ‘blood’ smeared on her gloves, she screamed and ripped them off without a second thought.

“Gross! I can’t believe I did that!”

“ _I_ can’t believe one of them was still alive.” Leonie scoffed as she turned to Claude. “Didn’t you check their bodies thoroughly after you defeated them?”

“Admittedly, not that one. I thought she wouldn’t have survived a direct hit from Failnaught and the fall afterwards.” Claude sounded quite calm for someone who was about to scream at the heavens. Damn it all! He was so close to finishing this mission with the harpies unscathed, and those idiots had to screw up his plans at the last minute! Now what was he going to do? The Golden Deer were undoubtedly going to kill Lamassu, which would inevitably piss off Shedu, which meant he was going to wake up and die too. All the worst-case scenarios flooded his mind at once, rendering the pain in his arm a mere dull throb.

“Claude! I think you really need my healing this time.” Marianne rushed to his side with the glow of magic already dancing around her hands. It was just his luck that Lamassu gouged the same arm as before. If he denied Marianne a third time, he wasn’t sure how his limb was going to feel in the morning. So Claude wordlessly extended his scratched up arm and allowed Marianne to do her job.

“Thanks for that.” He said once she had finished. Claude glanced at his skin that showed through his ripped sleeve. No scratches, scars, or any other funny business remained.

“Hey, Claude, you did check the others, right? Cause I don’t want to be ambushed again.” Hilda directed her pink gaze towards Vaida, who was still perched over the remaining two harpies. 

“Well, if they were faking their deaths before, I doubt they’re faking it now.” Claude also turned to look at Vaida. The wyvern growled and bared her teeth while her claws wrapped around them tighter, an answer that chased away any lingering doubts the Golden Deer had. Only Claude watched Shedu and Anqa long enough to see the former open his eyes and glare at him from underneath Vaida. But Claude couldn’t respond back directly. He can only hope that his actions could speak for themselves.

“What do you propose we do with this harpy, then?” Lorenz gestured towards the inert body with his foot, taking care not to get any ‘blood’ on it.

Before Claude could say anything, Leonie interrupted him while she pulled something out of her back. “I got some rope here. Let’s tie her up and bring her back with the other Almyrans.” 

“What?” Claude blurted out.

“We’re going to capture her too, right?” Leonie gave him a quizzical look, like she was confused about why Claude sounded so confused. “Like you told us to do with any Almyrans that surrendered.”

“Which I still can’t believe they did, by the way.” Hilda interjected. “Who’s ever heard of an Almyran that gave up without a fight?”

“Although, this harpy technically didn’t surrender.” Lorenz pointed out. “She attacked me, then was knocked unconscious.”

“Eh, same difference. We’ll take any chances we get to capture Almyrans.” Claude shrugged, although he wasn’t feeling as casual about this matter as he seemed. In fact, he was downright amazed that they didn’t consider killing Lamassu on the spot.

“I’ll tie her up, since I have thick gloves on.” Claude took the rope from Leonie before she changed her mind. He was grateful that his gloves were part of his normal ensemble and not actually part of his plan. Not that he was in any danger from the ‘blood’. 

The rest of their operations went more smoothly than he expected. Claude tied up Lamassu to everyone else’s satisfaction, wrapped her in a blanket so her ‘blood’ wouldn’t touch anything, and hauled her onto Vaida’s back. While he worked, he noticed Lorenz eyeing him oddly, and couldn’t help but worry that he suspected something amiss. So when he spoke in a positive tone instead of an accusatory tone, Claude thought that he was hearing things at first.

“I must say, Claude, you continue to surprise me even after all the years we’ve known each other.”

“Is that a compliment?” Claude tried not to snap at him, but some of his frustration might have slipped through his facade. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with him, not after his stunt that ruined everything.

“If you wish to take it as one, I won’t object. But I was referring to your compliance during this mission.” Lorenz had the faintest hint of a smile on his face. “I’ll admit that I thought your reluctance would be detrimental today. But you didn’t let any prior qualms hinder you and you did what you had to against those barbarians. My father will be most pleased with the results.”

 _He better._ That was what Claude would have liked to say, but he choked down that snarky rebuttal instead. He told himself that this was the nobleman’s way of expressing gratitude, and to act so callously would only invite suspicion. Besides, Lorenz didn’t know that reaching towards that sash would pull the thread that would unravel his delicately woven plan. He couldn’t begrudge him for that completely.

As Claude mounted Vaida, he spared Lorenz a quick glance before turning his eyes skywards. “Well, if you like surprises, then I have plenty more of them. For now, let’s head back. I’m sure that everyone’s eagerly anticipating our return.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yup, this is basically one big reveal chapter. You have no idea how excited I am to post this lol. There's a lot to talk about with Claude and Almyra, some of which will be covered in future chapters so I can't answer everything now. I do want to mention a few things though.
> 
> 1\. I did give Claude a lot of death flags last chapter, so if you're expecting him to die/get a major injury/get found out, then I'm sorry but also not sorry. I just wanted to write about the letter because it seemed like something Claude would do for Byleth.
> 
> 2\. This is the first time Crests are mentioned in this story because I honestly didn't know whether to include Crests or not. I decided to only because I could fit them in with my plans. They probably aren't as big of a deal than in canon, but they will play a role.
> 
> 3\. Claude, Lamassu, and Shedu are not siblings. They've known each other since they were kids though. More to come on their relationship~
> 
> 4\. I called Anqa's magical songs Galdrs as a reference to the Radiance games but they're just references. Harpies in this fic are not related to the Laguz of Tellius, although I might make more references for kicks and giggles. Also I did sneak in another pretty big reference to an older Fire Emblem game earlier, did anyone catch it?
> 
> 5\. Sorry to Raphael and Ignatz for not getting a lot of screentime. To be fair, it's hard to incorporate a brawler into an aerial fight. I have no excuse for Ignatz though.
> 
> 6\. Feel free to ask any questions if things are unclear, but I might not be able to give a direct answer~


	11. A Bowl of Rabbit Stew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With two different tongues, Claude holds conversations with Count Gloucester and Lamassu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly didn't know what to name this chapter. Anyway it's a bit of a breather chapter, hope you all enjoy it anyway!

Everyone in the Golden Deer, save for Claude, were in high spirits as they marched back to the Gloucester mansion. Lorenz showered praise on the group for their exceptional performance in a rare show of camaraderie. Hilda tried to make Marianne accept said praise while their flying mounts hovered lazily over the caravan. Ignatz and Leonie were comforting Raphael about his inability to contribute much to the battle. Lysithea was sitting in her own corner of the wagon, pretending to be lost in the pages of a book but secretly enjoying the lively discussion as evident by the faint smile on her face. 

Which left Claude by himself, on the wagon that carried their prisoners. He volunteered to drive it, while Vaida flew by herself in the skies above, because he didn’t trust anyone else to commandeer it. He was sure that the Almyrans wouldn’t have trusted anyone else either. They were all wide awake at this point, and boring holes in the back of his head with unerring stares. He could feel Lamassu’s glare in particular, even when he kept his eyes on the road and refused to turn around to meet her hawk-like gaze. Any unmerited attention would arouse suspicion, and he couldn’t let his plan fall apart any further.

Apparently, Lamassu didn’t get the hint. She kept whispering him in the Almyran tongue, despite Claude’s persistent silence. “[You said that you wouldn’t spare me if I didn’t go along with your plan. So what changed?]”

He didn’t specifically say that. He just said that he couldn’t guarantee that she would be spared again. Claude was just as surprised as her when the other Golden Deer chose to capture Lamassu instead of kill her on the spot. True, he did tell them before the fight to accept any Almyran’s surrender. But he said that to ensure the safety of the human Almyrans that were downed by his poisoned arrow. He didn’t expect them to extend his request to a harpy that didn’t even bother to yield. After all, she was part of a monstrous race that the people of Fodlan have long regarded as barely sapient. Claude operated under the assumption that the other Golden Deer subscribed to that train of thought, and created the elaborate plan of faking the harpies’ death to circumvent that.

As if she read his mind, Lamassu slowly steered towards that touchy topic. “[The humans mentioned that you told them to spare Almyrans. Did you really hinge your grand scheme on the naive belief that they would follow your orders? That’s not the Flightless One I know.]”

Claude flinched inwardly, partially because she used an old nickname he hadn't heard for a long time and partially because she spoke the truth. If he was in this situation long ago, like when he first came to Fodlan, he would have come up with a better plot than ‘poison the Almyrans, hope that they heeded his strong suggestion of surrendering, and hope that his allies heeded his strong suggestion of capturing’. 

But he had changed a lot over the course of six years. He got to know his fellow Golden Deer a bit better and he took in a strange harpy under his wing. A harpy that didn’t harbor a distrust of humans like Almyrans, that told him to have more faith in his friends. Her words must have affected him more than he thought they would, in order to help him come up with this plan.

He still didn’t want to relay any of that to Lamassu. Besides the fact that he physically couldn’t, not when the other Golden Deer were around, he worried about how she would take the news of Byleth. Almyrans thought that the Fodlanese harpies were wiped out long ago, with the exception of a handful of individuals whose numbers were too insignificant to make a real difference. Sure, Claude assumed that Lamassu would be overjoyed about Byleth, like she found a long-lost kin, but such a reveal might cause ripples that he couldn’t foresee. Especially if Lamassu also discovered Byleth’s many quirks, like the girl living in her head and her supposed human friend.

It would be safer to keep both of them in the dark about each other, until the time was right. A boisterous laugh from Raphael afforded Claude with the opportunity to halt this conversation.

“[Let’s discuss this later. I can’t talk to you right now.]” Claude hissed without turning his head around.

Lamassu scoffed in response. “[How terrible it must be, to be unable to speak freely to an old friend. You act like you’re in control of everything, but really you’re just acting in the shadows to avoid making waves. I take back what I said earlier. Maybe you haven’t changed one bit, Wing Thief.]”

Claude scowled and wished that she would just shut up already. Lamassu chuckled, apparently taking delight in Claude’s unease. “[You may have lucked out with your friends, but I doubt that the more important humans will spare us Almyrans. Especially me. If I die, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life and make you wish you killed me when you had the chance.]”

On that sinister note, the harpy fell quiet. She was lucky that Claude couldn’t respond back, because he had a lot to say about that. Even though his plan definitely went sideways, he wasn’t going to let her die. He had to fix this, if only to make her eat her words.

* * *

Theodore Winton Gloucester was very much like his son Lorenz, and not in a flattering way. He sported violet hair styled in some absurd fashion, he wore garish clothes that wouldn’t be found on anyone but a Gloucester, and he postured himself in a way that was supposed to be noble but just looked pompous in Claude’s opinion. He was also like Lorenz in that he couldn’t see anything past that ridiculously long nose of his, which led him to believe that everything in the world centered around him.

But unlike Lorenz, Claude couldn’t sharpen his tongue against Count Gloucester if he wanted the Almyrans to make it out of the estate in one piece. He and Lorenz had to stand there and endure his passive-aggressiveness while the nobleman inspected the unexpected prisoners that the Golden Deer brought to his doorsteps.

“Hmph. It is no small feat to capture Almyrans alive, including one of those hideous harpies.” Count Gloucester shifted his gaze from the three human Almyrans to Lamassu, who glared back with silent fury. Claude had the foresight to gag her before presenting her to his client so she couldn’t spit insults in his face. “Goddess save us, it’s more grotesque than the reports depict.”

“I couldn’t have succeeded without Lorenz and the rest of the Golden Deer.” Claude tried his best to ignore the other man’s derogatory remark. Luckily, he was a pro at hiding his true feelings on any matter, so Count Gloucester had no hope in catching his lie. Claude knew he could have pulled off this plan better without the Golden Deer, especially Lorenz, but he had to pretend otherwise in order to please the fickle noble.

“Yes, I imagine that Lorenz was an essential part of this mission. You were in charge of the land troops, were you not?” Count Gloucester asked his son.

“Indeed. I led Ignatz Victor, Raphael Kirsten, and Lysithea von Ordelia into battle against the Almyrans. While Claude and his troops engaged the foes head-on, we dealt in long-range attacks and captured any enemies that were still alive after falling out of the air.” Lorenz glowed with pride as he spoke. Claude desperately wanted to say something, anything, to extinguish that, but held his tongue.

“And what a fine job you did. You may even deserve more credit than Lord Riegan.” A self-satisfied smile crept up on Count Gloucester’s face. “I must admit, I had my doubts about the abilities of a militia so young in age and so lacking in experience, but you exceeded all expectations I had.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Count Gloucester. I’ll be sure to let the others know of them.” Claude nodded. He was a bit glad that Hilda wasn't around, because if she heard him sucking up to Lorenz’s father, her teasing would be merciless.

“However, I must ask, what was the point in capturing these Almyrans, when executing them would have been sufficient?”

That question sent a chill down Claude’s spine. He didn’t like the direction this conversation was heading in. “I didn’t set out with the intention of capturing them, if that’s what you thought. But since the chance presented itself, why not take it?”

“Excuse me for my interruption,” Lorenz piped up, much to his frustration. “But Claude actually said, in very clear terms and before we marched to the site of the battle, to capture any surrendering Almyrans.”

“Did he?” Count Gloucester raised an eyebrow.

“I did, but I didn’t expect to actually detain anyone.” Claude said in a casual, matter-of-fact tone. Would it kill Lorenz to stay quiet for a hot moment? “I knew that Almyrans usually fought to their last breath, but on the off-chance that this bunch was a cowardly bunch, I didn’t want us to waste this precious opportunity by being overzealous.”

That response quelled any doubts the Gloucesters had, but it didn’t end the incessant parade of probing questions. “Opportunity for what, exactly?” Count Gloucester inquired.

“Interrogation, mostly. Aren’t you curious as to how the Almyrans made it so far past Fodlan’s Locket? A big security breach like that should get looked into, and what better way to start than to ask the guys who broke through it?”

Count Gloucester made a sound of disbelief. “Lord Riegan, you ought to know that Almyrans are notoriously tight-lipped. Even if you can find an interpreter, they’re not going to confess to anything.”

“I’m afraid that I have to disagree.” Claude said with a knowing smirk. “Not only do I have some very persuasive methods, I also have one other key factor on my side. The harpy.”

“Ah, this is about what was taught to us during our foreign policy class, am I correct?” Lorenz interjected. “The country of Almyra perceive harpies as divine protectors, almost like deities. In exchange for their prowess during battle, the Almyrans serve harpies with utmost fealty.”

“That’s right. Fealty that’s sadly misplaced.” Claude glanced at Lamassu for a second. He was pretty sure that she could understand the Fodlan language, or at least enough to get the gist of their conversation. So he wasn’t surprised to see the hateful expression that darkened her face further. If she wasn’t gagged and bound, she would probably claw Claude’s tongue out for that blasphemous remark.

“If you believe that you can reach the Almyrans in this way, then I will not stop you.” Count Gloucester said. “But I must warn you that I do not have any space in my dungeons for them. In addition, even if I could imprison them, I fear that this creature’s vileness could taint our lands forever. Such is the nature of abominations born outside of the goddess’s reach.”

“I understand." Claude nodded while an idea came to mind. "So are you permitting the Golden Deer to take these prisoners back to Cornwall?”

“I am giving you permission, yes.”

“That is a very kind gesture. Thank you, Count Gloucester. I promise that I will glean something out of it.” Claude bowed slightly to display his gratitude more, even though this mere gesture made him want to puke.

“Think nothing of it.” Count Gloucester waved a hand in his general direction. “You are actually doing me a great service in removing these heathens from the premises. The sooner they can leave, the better.”

That was a not-so-subtle request to get the Almyrans out of here as soon as possible. So there wasn’t going to be a big feast for the Golden Deer tonight, like the last time they successfully completed a mission. They were going to spend the night travelling back home, much to Hilda’s displeasure. After Count Gloucester gave them their payment and enough provisions for their travels, the Golden Deer left the luxurious mansion behind them and hit the road once more, before the sun had completely sunk below the horizon. 

Count Gloucester’s paranoia about the harpy’s ‘vileness’ served Claude well, since he would have a much easier time freeing the Almyrans if they were confined on his land. But it also meant that he couldn’t ditch the Golden Deer during the night and meet up with Shedu and Anqa, wherever they were A close-knit group like this one provided no opening to escape through. It made Claude anxious, but he had to stick with them to not only avoid suspicion, but to keep Lamassu and the other Almyrans safe. Although they showed no inclination to reverse their decision now, they could always change their mind and kill them when he wasn’t looking.

He had a hunch that Shedu and Anqa were going to be alright anyway. They weren’t as badly hurt during the fight as Lamassu, who still had a hole in her wing. Anqa should be able to heal off their wounds, and then they would take to the skies in order to find where Claude and Lamassu went. That part might be a little tricky for them, but as long as this caravan progressed slowly and lit a bright campfire at night, the feathered duo should have no problems tracking them down.

That just left the question of what they were going to do next. The easiest solution was to just let the Almyrans run off while no one was looking and play dumb when asked about it. But there was no way the Golden Deer would just believe his feigned ignorance, and such a novice mistake would reflect badly on their otherwise sterling reputation. It would certainly prevent them from being able to hold Almyran prisoners in the future, at the very least. Those same reasons also prevented Claude from just busting them out of the prison at Cornwall, especially since he recently beefed up their security after Byleth’s misadventures. He would need a scapegoat of some sort, and then he would have to figure out how to get the Almyrans back home… Claude was so deep in thought, he almost didn’t hear someone mention his name.

“Claude? Are you there?” Raphael’s loud voice brought him back to reality. 

“Yeah? What?” He blinked. The eight of them were sitting around a fire, eating a somewhat lavish meal of rabbit stew, bread and cheese, and toasted marshmallows. The last food was courtesy of Count Gloucester, much to Lysithea’s delight.

“We were just talking about the harpy, and we wanted to hear your thoughts.” Lysithea said as she stuffed her face with the confection.

“My thoughts?” Claude repeated. They just dragged him into a dangerous conversation, and he had to think long and hard about his response. He obviously had many thoughts on Lamassu. Hell, even on harpies in general. But to reveal them would destroy everything he was working for, so he had to approach this in a careful and believable manner.

Or he could deflect their attention entirely. “What were your thoughts? I must have missed them.”

“All of us agreed that she’s disturbing, to say the very least.” Lysithea responded. “For me, it’s like looking in a distorted mirror. Her face looks so human, but when you look at the rest of her…”

The pale girl shuddered. Claude was going to suggest that the rest of her looked like a ghost, just for fun, but he was interrupted by Hilda. “That’s not even mentioning her nakedness! Thank the Goddess we threw a blanket on her now, but during battle, there’s no way I could ignore how her chest flops around in the wind! How savage!”

“But doesn’t your-” Raphael was saved by Ignatz’s timely hand over his mouth.

“So? What are your thoughts? I must admit that I’m terribly curious about the opinion of our esteemed leader.” Lorenz managed to say that with a straight face. It would have been impressive if it weren’t for the feeling that he was digging for something in particular.

“Well, she’s certainly strange looking. That’s for sure.” Claude resisted the urge to glance at the corner of the camp where the prisoners were being kept. That sensation of being stared at probably meant that Lamassu was eavesdropping on every unflattering remark. “Smells bad too, although after riding in the same wagon as them for hours upon end, you kinda get used to it.”

“You know, you don’t always have to drive their wagon if you don’t want to. I can take over for you.” Leonie piped up. “If they give me any trouble, I’ll just stick them with my lance.”

“I-I thought the point of capturing them was to not kill them?” Ignatz stuttered.

“Yeah, but the point is to also not die.” Leonie glared.

“I must agree with Leonie.” Lorenz chimed in. “We can never be too careful around Almyrans. They are capable of all manners of trickery. Why, the harpy faked her death so well, Claude didn’t notice until she attacked me!”

“You didn’t notice either.” Claude muttered before resuming his normal volume. “Anyway, they’re pretty subservient now, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. There’s no need to hurt them unless they try to hurt you. And if that happens, I want to know.”

“What, are you going to scold them if they do?” Leonie laughed. “You can’t even speak Almyran!”

“I dunno, those harpies were pretty talkative whenever Claude was around.” Hilda mentioned while she played with her hair. “I’ve never heard them scream so much. Granted, I haven’t fought harpies up close before, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t usually chatterboxes. Otherwise my brother would be able to speak their language by now!”

“Maybe Claude doesn’t know Almyran, but he does know how to speak bird. Like Marianne!” Raphael exclaimed, much to Marianne’s embarrassment. She buried her face in her hands and muttered something about wanting to be left out of this.

“Raphael, bird isn’t even a language.” Lysithea scoffed, then paused. “Although, with a race of half-bird humans, anything could be possible.”

“No, I don’t speak bird, and I have no idea why they were so talkative around me.” Claude flashed a playful smile. “What I was trying to say is that the Almyrans fear me, after what Failnaught did to their harpies. I figured I’ll just threaten them with it and they’ll get back in line pretty quickly.”

“Must be nice, having a Crest and Hero’s Relic that can obliterate enemies with one shot.” Leonie sighed.

“Hey, I told you already. I spent a lot of time practicing that maneuver.” Claude reassured her. “You’ll have the chance to establish your dominance too, when we start interrogations. I bet they’ll get scared of you real quickly.”

“They better.” Leonie responded with a somewhat frightening smile.

The rest of the night flew by with idle chatter. The Golden Deer retired to their tents, one by one, but not before establishing a watch schedule. They were to guard the camp in pairs, and fortunately for Claude, he was assigned to Raphael. It was easy for him to slip a sleeping elixir into his waterskin, and soon enough, he was snoring like a bear in hibernation.

Which left Claude with plenty of time to talk to Lamassu. He sidled over to her and ungagged her, Once her mouth was freed, she coughed and spat and woke the other Almyrans up with her noise.

“[Not so loud. Here, drink this.]” Claude pressed the edge of a bowl of rabbit stew against her lips. She glared at it for a few solid seconds before giving into her hungry stomach. Lamassu downed the soup voraciously, in a manner that reminded him of Byleth. Claude then proceeded to feed the rest of the Almyrans leftovers from the Golden Deer’s dinner.

“[This is humiliating.]” Lamassu lamented. “[I don’t know how you convinced that purple man to let us go with you, but I wished we were slain by his hand. A swift death would be better than this cruel and unusual form of torture.]”

“[What, you hate me so much that you can’t accept food from me?]” Claude teased. “[That was a rhetorical question, by the way. Don’t answer that.]”

Lamassu rolled her eyes. Claude thought that she would have plenty to say, now that she was no longer gagged, but she was oddly silent. He wondered at first if she stayed quiet so she wouldn’t wake up the other humans, but she made the reason for her silence known after a moment of pondering.

“[I can see why you trust your soldiers.]” She muttered in a surprisingly calm tone. “[The way you speak to them, joke with them… You’re at ease, even if they don’t know who you really are.]”

“[I wouldn’t say I’m at ease.]” Claude shook his head. “[I just make it look that way, and then the Golden Deer make their own assumptions. This is what happens when you build solidarity with words instead of physical prowess and blind loyalty.]”

Funnily enough, it should have been the other way around in Claude’s opinion. A fighting group that survived through many trials together should have forged strong bonds through the flames of battle. But when soldiers are expected to sacrifice themselves on foolhardy missions, when people aren’t allowed to just give up, the inevitability of death tends to stamp out friendships rather quickly. It was especially so for Almyran brigades led by harpies. The lessons on foreign countries during Claude’s academy years were inaccurate about many things about Almyra, but it got the relationship between Almyran harpies and humans right. Harpies were considered superior beings, untouchable, almost god-like. Which meant that it was an honor for humans to serve directly under them, and an even greater honor to throw their supposedly worthless lives away for their sake.

That wasn’t to say that Fodlan was any better than Almyra in that regard. Their Crest system was almost as bad as how Almyrans exonerate harpies, but that was a discussion for another time. 

Lamassu made her displeasure with Claude’s response apparent by the bitterness in her voice. “[If you like it here so much, Vulture, why haven’t you turned your back on your homeland completely? A life with less fighting and more lying suits you.]”

“[Besides the fact that I can’t trust Fodlan with my secrets yet? Despite everything, Almyra is still my home, even though it’s less than perfect.]” Claude was going to have to get used to all these nicknames because it was clear that she wasn’t going to stop. Not when she can make him squirm just by uttering them. “[And forsaking it entirely would mean I would have to kill you, Shedu, Nader, my own father...]”

“[I see that your heart is still just as soft as your nails.]” The harpy derided. 

“[You say that like it’s a bad thing. My soft heart saved you, you know.]”

“[Barely. This is hardly what I’d call saving.]” Her wings were still bound tightly, so she couldn’t gesture at anything, but Claude knew what she meant.

“[Hey, you got yourself into this mess. If you had played dead like I asked, the humans would have left you alone.]”

“[And without my sash! You know that without it, I can’t finish my Trials of the Barbarossa!]” Lamassu hissed a little too loudly for Claude’s liking. He turned around to check on Raphael, then turned back when he saw that he was still snoring away.

“[I would have gotten it back for you. In fact, I would have helped you in any way I could, within reason, but now this is pushing it.]” Claude sighed and propped his chin up with a hand. “[This mess will take awhile to sort out, but I swear I’ll get you and the others through it. Just keep playing along until then, alright?]”

“[It’s not like I have a choice.]” Lamassu leaned back a little bit. “[So what are you going to do when you start interrogating us? It’s not like I can tell you anything that you don’t already know.]”

“[I’ll figure that out as I go.]” That was the truth for once. Claude never had to fake an interrogation before, but he was sure he could manage. “[But you could tell me how Mother and Father and the rest of the family are doing.]”

“[With all your schemes, you don’t know how they’re doing?]” Lamassu’s words made him fear the worst, but her easy expression suppressed the concerns that suddenly sprang up. “[They’re the same as always. King Anzu causes riots throughout the palace. Queen Tiana cleans them up. Alshain and Tarazed are gaining notoriety as generals, although neither of them are going to be stationed at the border anytime soon. Okab is still trying to find a boyfriend. And Altair…]”

“[What about Altair?]” Now Claude had reason to worry. Lamassu knew that he never really got along with his eldest half-brother, so if she was trailing off like that, that meant this bit of news was not good news for the youngest prince of Almyra.

“[Altair has expressed interest in challenging King Anzu for the throne. You better hurry up and finish your Reclamation Trial, Prince Half-Breed. Otherwise whatever you Reclaim won’t ever be good enough for our new king, and you’ll never become a Barbarossa.]”

That wasn’t really surprising to Claude, but Lamassu was right to hesitate. Claude found a new sense of urgency over his incredibly drawn out Reclamation, although he couldn’t speed it up if he wanted to. He honestly hadn’t made any headway on it in a long time. Even if he could complete it overnight, he couldn’t just leave behind everything he worked for in Fodlan. Besides his nebulous plans, he still had another injured harpy to nurse back to health.

“[Duly noted.]” He said simply. “[But I still can’t come back yet.]”

“[What a shame.]” Lamassu replied. Those three words startled Claude enough to make him raise an eyebrow.

“[What’s this? You actually want me to become a Barbarossa? And maybe future king?]”

“[Don’t twist my words! I’m just saying that you need to actually do something if you want to keep your precious Fodlan intact. Once Altair gains the throne, there’s nothing stopping him from getting that war he craves.]”

“[It still sounds like you care about me.]” Claude joked in order to mask the growing feeling of dread. He knew all this was going to happen, before Lamassu broke the news to him, perhaps even before he left Almyra. Yet he was powerless to halt the eldest prince’s ambitions. At least for now.

“[You’re insufferable, Khalid.]” Lamassu stuck her tongue out. “[But I will admit, if you manage to get me out of this mess, I’ll throw my full support behind you if you return home.]”

“[When I return.]” Claude corrected her. He noticed that she bothered to use his real name this time, which hinted towards her true feelings on the matter. 

Lamassu laughed softly. “[Just don’t take another six years to finish. Is that all for your interrogation practice, or do you have other questions for me? Because I would like to get some rest soon.]”

“[Actually, I’m going to keep you up a little longer and ask one more question. Who is the shaman that was with you guys? Anqa?]”

“[Ah, right. You didn’t meet her before you left. She is Shedu’s fiance. They’re going to marry next month.]”

“[And you decided to drag them along on your Reclamation Trial?!]” Claude was more shocked at her audacity than at the fact that Shedu was getting married in the first place. A mission into the heart of Fodlan was dangerous, and many Barbarossas-in-training never passed their final Trial. But apparently Lamassu had no qualms about bringing not only her brother, but also her future sister-in-law deep into enemy territory.

“[Don’t sound so surprised. Shedu offered to accompany me, so Anqa wanted to come too.]”

“[That’s still not a good reason to bring them into this mess.]”

“[And now they may be our only way out of it. If they can find us.]”

“[When they find us. I’ll hop on Vaida’s back to find them myself if I have to, and make sure that everyone’s back in Almyra in time for the wedding.]”

Lamassu only let out a satisfied hmph in response. That was a sign indicating that she had nothing more to add to this conversation. Before she could go to sleep, Claude had to shove her gag back into place. She struggled against the cloth only to show that she was still unhappy with the chain of events that led to this moment, but ultimately relented. After she was properly tied up once again, Claude moved back to his seat by the fire and next to the sleeping Raphael. It would be a while before the next shift change still, which meant that he could stew in his thoughts a little longer.

Shedu was getting married to someone he never met before today. Altair was vying for the throne. How many other important events did he miss while he was stuck in Fodlan? He didn’t hate being here, but while he caught up with Lamassu, he was made acutely aware of the amount of time he spent in a land that he couldn’t trust completely. How much longer was he going to spend here? He joked to himself that he only had a month left to finish his Reclamation Trial and head home, in order to make it back in time to Shedu’s wedding. But really, what was his answer? 

He didn’t have one, for once. There were still too many things he had to do, too many people to finish business with. And yet, despite his mounting goals, all Claude could do now was watch the fire succumb to the passage of time as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like elaborating a bit on Barbarossas and the Reclamation Trial because I dunno if I'm going to explain it adequately in the story. At least, not for a long while lol.
> 
> The leader of Almyra is not determined by bloodline, but by martial prowess. Barbarossas are potential heirs to the throne and high ranking generals in their own right. To become a Barbarossa, one must pass a series of trials, the last one being the Reclamation Trial, which involves going into Fodlan and bringing back something noteworthy to the current leader. Once someone becomes a Barbarossa, they can become the next leader by challenging the current leader to a duel or wait until the current leader retires and passes the crown to an heir of their choosing. The latter rarely happens because of Almyra's warrior culture. 
> 
> However, King Anzu's bloodline has successfully defended the throne for many generations, to the point where you could call it a dynasty. It's expected that most, if not all, of his children will become Barbarossas, and one of them will inherit the throne, even though there are other vying candidates outside his immediate family like Lamassu. The royal family's strength is a major reason why Claude's feathers and princely heritage carry so much weight.
> 
> Also it's a bit of an unspoken rule that only harpies can become Barbarossas. It's actually very unusual for Claude to undertake the trials and pass all but the last one, but that'll be touched upon later. :3c


	12. A Million Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth and Sothis come close to learning the truth, and then they don't.

“Wow. Claude was right. That was quite a downer ending.”

Both Byleth and Sothis stared at the blank space after the last paragraph of _Under a Shared Sky_. Claude did warn that the author’s first and only encounter with a real harpy didn’t end well for either of them, but he also mentioned that the author resolved to seek out other flocks at the book’s end. So Byleth had foolishly hoped that Sir Hanneman found some solace, some proof that not all harpies were as vicious and bloodthirsty as the harpy he met. Instead, her dreams were dashed by an unfinished conclusion that left her wanting for more. Also known as a cliffhanger, according to Sothis.

“Sir Hanneman must have planned for a second book, when he finished his travels. Why else would he leave his readers hanging?” Sothis sighed as she rested her cheek against her knuckles. “I certainly hope that the next installment is more satisfying, considering that it’s been 21 years since this book was published!”

 _"It doesn’t take 21 years to write another book. Something must have happened to him, and we’re not going to get any more books."_ Byleth thought grimly. Normally she was quite optimistic about most matters, but Hanneman’s meeting with the harpy didn’t instill much confidence. The harpy, described as a ragged thing worn out by a long and arduous flight over Fodlan’s Throat, attacked Hanneman without warning. Hanneman had no choice but to fight back against her. The ensuing battle was written with such vivid details, Byleth couldn’t help but wonder if he took notes on it while it happened. She felt her skin prickle as he recounted the many puncture wounds inflicted by the harpy’s sharp talons, she felt the heat of his magic as he casted spell after spell, she felt his growing despair as he realized that this harpy was either going to kill him or die trying, and she felt a hollow pit in her stomach when it was all over. Not only did Hanneman fail to talk her out of this fight, his fire spells had burnt her body to a crisp, rendering it useless for scientific endeavors.

He hypothesized that the harpy attacked with such ferocity because she was starving. Although it sickened her to even think of eating human flesh, Byleth still related to her plight a bit. If Sothis didn’t guide her in her dreams during those few days Byleth lived by herself in the wilderness, she might have found herself in a similar situation and resorted to desperate measures to claw her way out of them. She might have hunted anything that moved, including humans. Or to be more precise, including Claude.

Sothis’s shrill voice shook that morbid thought out of her head. “I do not think that Sir Hanneman would be felled that easily. Even though he displayed an abundance of misinformation throughout his personal testimony, he didn’t choose to revel in his ignorance. He embarked on dangerous journeys to seek the truth. Such determination, coupled with that keen mind of his, should protect him from most perils.”

As always, Sothis’s wisdom rang true. Before Byleth could even agree with her, the ghostly girl continued dispensing more of that wisdom, this time in the form of questions. “But enough of that old man. There were several instances in this story that raised many questions about Claude.”

 _"Claude?"_ Byleth wondered how he related to this book at all, besides the fact that he gifted it to her to keep her busy and out of mischief.

“Yes. Before he left on his mission, he gave us a letter that would enable us passage to a faraway place that he thought that you would enjoy.” Sothis nodded towards the parcel of papers sitting with the rest of Byleth’s possessions. “Disregarding that presumptuous assumption for the moment, I originally thought that he meant to bring us to a place either just for harpies or just for ourselves, because he believed that harpies and humans could not coexist peacefully. However, throughout _Under a Shared Sky_ , a neighboring country called Almyra was mentioned frequently. Almyra is located on the other side of Fodlan’s Throat. And do you know what else is beyond Fodlan’s Throat?”

 _"Harpies."_ Byleth answered. She sensed where Sothis was going with this.

“Correct. According to this book, Almyra is not only a country with both humans and harpies, but also a country ruled by harpies. It is quite far from here as well, especially with that mountain range in the way. So the place that Claude wanted us to seek, if he becomes incapacitated in some manner, must be Almyra. Which only makes this situation more curious.”

Sothis kept going, vocalizing the questions that sprang up in Byleth’s mind. “Almyra is supposedly an enemy of the Alliance, and the reason why a large fortress like Fodlan’s Locket exists. So how does Claude have good enough relations with it to be able to guarantee us refuge within its border? And did he not say at one point that you are the only harpy he’s seen? It would be difficult to forge bonds with a country without meeting its ruling denizens.”

 _"You think he’s lying."_ Byleth summed up Sothis’s many questions with one succinct statement.

“Yes. Or, at the very least, he’s hiding many secrets from us.”

Byleth didn’t want to believe that Claude would do such a thing since he had shown her nothing but kindness so far, but the truth planted little seeds of doubt in her mind. After reading through _Under a Shared Sky_ and all the gory stories about harpies within, it did strike her as odd that Claude didn’t react with fear when they first met. A normal person would have left her for dead, or worse, slain her on the spot. He also knew so much more about harpies than a normal person. He knew how to fix her broken wing, he made medicines that sped up her recovery, he knew what kind of magic a harpy should or should be able to perform… Some of these moments could be explained by his books, but not all of them. That wasn’t even mentioning his self-professed title of ‘weirdo’, or his vague goal of changing people’s perceptions on harpies, a goal Byleth had to coax out of him with Sothis’s help. Ordinary, harpy-fearing humans would never have such lofty ambitions. 

Yet there were instances where Claude was genuinely confused about her. Like when she swung her wing like a sword, or when she used the stolen magic tome with Sothis’s help. Byleth’s head spun while she tried to dissect the many moments they shared together. What was genuine, and what was just another part of his intricate facade? Were any of his curious questions or light-hearted laughs real? Was he really taking care of her out of the compassion of his heart? Her breathing quickened and her feathers stood at their end as these dangerous thoughts overwhelmed her.

“Byleth.” Sothis placed a hand on her wing talons. She couldn’t actually touch her, like usual, but the harpy could feel the warmth emanating from her anyway. 

“Byleth.” She repeated her name more sternly to draw blue eyes towards green ones. “There’s no need to be scared. Even though there is evidence of deceit, I’ve never sensed any malicious intent from Claude. If he wanted to use us for some nefarious purpose, he would have done so already. Furthermore, I have noticed some genuine emotions from our dear caretaker. He sounded truly alarmed when he saw that we were missing, his smile reached his eyes after we thanked him for all that he had done for us, and he gave us the letter that inadvertently helped us piece together this puzzle. A cautious man like him wouldn’t have risked his secrets like that if he didn’t trust us at least a little bit.”

Sothis was right. She always was. There was no reason to panic over a theoretical, evil Claude when the real Claude had been compassionate so far. Byleth took a deep breath and willed her body to calm down. 

“Don’t let my suspicions blemish those moments, or all the aid he has offered us.” The girl gave her a reassuring smile. “Besides, with all the rapport you have built with Claude, there’s an easy way to find out whether he has been hiding things from us.”

_"How?"_

“Just ask him about it.” Sothis’s grin grew more mischievous. “Your straightforward manner has worked well in the past. Even if he doesn’t tell us anything, we could glean a lot from his reaction.”

Byleth agreed with Sothis by nodding her head. Claude did always respond to whatever questions she asked, even if his answers dodged the matter at hand. Now she just had to be careful, and make sure she separated out the lies and half-lies from the complete truth.

Not long after Sothis and Byleth discussed what to do about Claude, the man himself loudly slammed the door open. He had definitely seen better days, as evident by his tousled hair, clothes stained with dark marks, and ripped sleeves. His face was set in a deep frown that instantly brightened when he laid eyes on Byleth.

“Boy, am I glad to see you where you’re supposed to be.” He exclaimed without a hint of sarcasm.

“Was the mission that bad?” Byleth asked. Her blunt question was made more stark when Vaida stampeded into the room and nestled herself on a mound of sand.

“It… could have gone better.” Claude sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “But do you mind if I come back later? I only came here to drop off Vaida. I still need to wash up and eat something first. I promise that I’ll tell you all about it afterwards, and bring you something nice to eat too.”

Byleth nodded again. Upon receiving permission to leave, he waved a goodbye before he departed. Sothis mentioned something about Byleth letting him go too easily, but she ignored those remarks and stared at the door he exited through. She already waited for him to return for the past few days, she could wait a little longer for him to get situated. Especially when there was a lot to ask him.

True to his word, Claude came back not long afterwards, carrying some freshly cooked food wrapped in paper dripping with grease. Byleth dug into the bag's contents, which consisted of sausages, bacon, and biscuits, with ravenous delight. The small feast that Claude had presented almost made her forget what she was going to ask him, but Sothis didn't forget. She crossed her arms and cleared her throat to catch Byleth's attention.

"Ahem. Don't let the food distract you from the important matters we need to discuss."

"Hey Byleth. Try some of these too." Claude unknowingly interrupted Sothis by tossing her a delicate pouch tied with a ribbon. When she pulled the ribbon away, several puffy white cubes fell into her talons.

"What are these?" Byleth asked, completely ignoring what Sothis just said. She would have normally earned a scolding for that, but apparently Sothis was also curious about these mysterious items too.

"They're marshmallows, a kind of candy. I got them as part of our reward for our last mission." Claude explained as Byleth squeezed them as gently as she could. Despite her efforts, her claws still punctured a few of the marshmallows. When she tried to pull them off, she was surprised to see them sticking to her claws.

"Do you, uh, need help with them?" Claude had a faint hint of amusement on his face as he watched her fiddle around with the marshmallows.

"I'm alright." Byleth replied. She gave up on trying to pry them off with her claws and instead just bit down on them. Her mouth was overloaded with acutely sugary sweetness, a flavor that she hadn't tasted before but could definitely get used to. And the mouthfeel was interesting too. Byleth never ate something so squishy, nor something that essentially glued her teeth together. It was a strange sensation, but also oddly delightful.

"I'm guessing from how fast you ate them that you liked them." Claude laughed.

"Yesh. They were delishush. Thankyo." Byleth's words were muffled by the marshmallows stuffed in her mouth, causing Claude to laugh again.

"Don't expect this treat for a while. Marshmallows are hard to come by, and even harder to save for you when there's a sugar demon among the Golden Deer. I was only able to give you some because Count Gloucester was more generous with the sweets than with the actual payment."

Byleth swallowed all her marshmallows before she spoke up again. "I thought you said the mission went badly." 

"Just because it went badly doesn't mean it didn't succeed." Claude shrugged. 

"So why did you think it went badly?"

He tapped an index finger against his cheek, deep in thought. If he had to think about what to say next, did that mean he was already spinning lies to tell Byleth? No, she wasn't going to make such assumptions so brashly. She was going to let him explain himself first.

Yet, when he spoke, he sounded so natural, like he didn't plan any of his words at all. "The others don't know how badly the mission went. As far as they could tell, we did what we sent out to do. We captured most of our enemies and killed the rest. Except … there were other objectives I needed to accomplish, but didn't get to because of people's stupid decisions. Now I have to figure out how to still fulfill those goals without endangering anyone further."

His explanation was incredibly vague, but Byleth kind of understood what he meant. She just wished he was a little more upfront with the details, so she didn't have to coax them out of him with the bluntness of an iron bar. "What kind of enemies did you fight?" She asked.

"Just a bunch of raiders. They were terrorizing a bunch of villages in Gloucester, so we had to put a stop to them."

"Hm, it's quite odd that he wouldn't consider the mission a complete success if the enemies were just run-of-the-mill bandits." Sothis piped up. "He didn't show any mercy to the bandit that almost killed us, after all. Are these bandits perhaps…?"

"Are they Almyran?" Byleth finished Sothis's question out loud, shocking Claude enough to stun him silent for a moment or two.

"How did you hear of Almyra?"

"I read about it in your book on harpies." Byleth replied back confidently. The fact that he answered her question with another question almost confirmed her suspicions. "It said that Almyra is a country of humans and harpies, and it also sends raiders to the border of the Alliance sometimes."

"Oh, so you've been reading _Under a Shared Sky_? What do you think of it?"

"I like it. I finished it, too." 

"Good job! You've come a long way from only being able to read a few words of the title." Claude commended her further with an easy-going smile.

Sothis, however, wasn't fooled by his compliment. "He's trying to change the subject. Don't get distracted. Ask him more about Almyra!"

"So were the bandits Almyrans?" Byleth repeated her question, following Sothis's advice to remain undeterred.

Claude's smile diminished just a tad as he realized that his usual tricks weren't working on Byleth. "They were, actually, but there weren't any harpies among them, if that's what you're hoping for."

"Ask him what he was planning to do with them." Sothis urged Byleth.

"What else were hoping to achieve with them?" Byleth relayed Sothis's response to Claude, as she couldn't think of any replies of her own. "You said you had other goals you wanted to accomplish."

"Hm, it's rather hard to explain to someone that doesn't know much about Alliance and Almyran politics." Claude gave her a look that silently asked her if she wanted him to go on.

Which Byleth of course wanted. "I can try."

"Alright. Basically, we captured someone that I didn't want to capture, because she's related to a very important person in Almyra. If word gets out that she's being imprisoned, that might give Almyra the reason it needs to launch a full scale invasion under the pretense of rescuing her. It would have been better if she had died on the battlefield, honestly. Their strange warrior culture would have accepted that over capture."

"You can't just kill her now?"

"Well, no. The others want to keep her alive for valuable information." Claude sighed.

"Do they not know what would happen if she remained imprisoned?"

"Not exactly. I don't think they know who she is, because apparently I'm the only one who pays attention to Almyran politics at the roundtable." Claude shrugged, like that couldn't be helped. "Even if they do know, just killing her wouldn't solve anything. I need to figure out a way to go about this carefully, without this mess spiralling further out of control."

His emerald eyes drifted towards the walls behind Byleth, obviously sinking deeper into thought. Byleth also found herself pondering over their conversation. Claude sounded so casual when he talked about executing his prisoner for the sake of keeping the Alliance safe. Did he not care for Almyra after all? Yet he also mentioned how he displayed uncommon interest in the country's politics, and didn't give a solid reason as to why he couldn't just tell his friends what he told her. Trying to determine Claude's true intentions was like trying to catch a fleeting fish with her bare talons. He evaded certain crucial subjects with smiles and nebulous words. Whenever he felt telling emotions such as frustration or shock, his expression only wavered for a split second, leaving Byleth to wonder if she was just imagining things. It didn't help that she wasn't great at reading people in the first place, and she had reasons to suspect Claude only recently.

"Now I have some questions for you." His voice interrupted her thoughts. "Why are you so interested in Almyra?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Her response flowed readily from her heart to her tongue. "When you talked about the harpies across Fodlan's Throat, you made them sound like a small flock. But now I'm finding out they live in an entirely separate country."

"Sorry about that." Claude said sheepishly. "But whether they're a flock or a country doesn't change the fact that they have a bitter feud with foriegn humans."

A fact that Claude once admitted to wanting to change. Yet he spoke so matter-of-factly, like he never had such a dream in the first place. Did he shift his tone because Byleth was able to put a name on the harpy flock in Fodlan's Throat? Which perhaps meant he did have some ties to the mysterious country?

While she tried to decipher his words, Claude spoke up to fill the awkward silence. "You're not thinking of joining them once your wing heals, are you? I don't really know how they would react to you, but I doubt that you can do that just because you're a harpy."

"Why not?” Byleth felt some treacherous words bubbling up her throat. It was dangerous to let them loose, but she wanted to satiate her (and Sothis’s) curiosity once and for all. “Isn't that what your letter is for?"

Claude flinched at Byleth's reveal. That rare crack in his usually calm facade piqued Sothis's interest. She muttered something about being close to the truth and leaned in closer, to not mishear how he would explain himself.

"Is that what you were thinking all this time?" He wiped that recoil away with another smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Sorry to dash your hopes, but that letter isn't for Almyra."

"It isn't?" Byleth's heart sank when she heard his deconfirmation. Not only was she barking up the wrong tree, she was basically accusing Claude of hiding essential secrets. Luckily for her, he didn't seem to take those accusations too badly.

"Nope. It was a good guess though. The only problem is it would be kinda hard for me, the heir to the Riegan Dukedom, to be on good terms with Almyra, considering that we're at each other's throats all the time."

"That makes sense..." Byleth couldn't find it in her to voice her concerns again. In retrospect, it was quite a stretch to assume that his letter could have brought her to Almyra. She and Sothis only came to that conclusion because the country was apparently the only country that was at least receptive to harpies.

"Besides, I thought you wanted me to come with you to this place." Claude said with a little smirk. "If you were going to Almyra, I wouldn't be able to accompany you. The people there would have my head as soon as I stepped over the border."

Byleth nodded wordlessly. When he put it that way, maybe it was better that this unknown refuge wasn't Almyra. Sothis, however, didn't believe his decisive reasons so readily. "But Claude is no stranger to secrets. He did manage to hide us in the wyvern aviary for two weeks without any major mishaps. Well, without any major mishaps that weren't caused by us."

 _"I think it would be harder to hide his connection to Almyra."_ Byleth thought back. She didn't care to vocalize Sothis's opinions that would slander Claude further.

"I think it would be the opposite!" Sothis exclaimed while narrowing her eyes. "A supposed connection is a nebulous, intangible item. But you exist! You breathe, you talk, and you eat copious amounts of food!"

_"I don't eat that much food."_

"Is Sothis saying something?" Claude's question interrupted their argument. Byleth shifted her focus to the man sitting next to her and nodded.

"She doesn't believe you." She stated, much to Sothis's displeasure.

"Ah. I don't blame her." Claude nodded, like he already knew that. "I'll admit that I can't be upfront about everything. There are some… sensitive topics that I can't share much about, for the sake of the Alliance's security and all that. You understand that, right?"

Byleth nodded as Sothis just gave him an unwavering stare. From her hesitation, it seemed like she remained unconvinced. Even though Claude had no way of reading her expression, he continued on like he was trying to persuade her otherwise.

"But I'm open about everything that I can tell you. You just need to ask. Filling in the blank spots of your memories is the least I can do for you."

"Does that mean he can tell us where the letter will actually take us?" Sothis piped up. "I don't see a reason why he should be so secretive about that."

Byleth doubted that Claude was going to tell them that still, but it was worth a try. When she mentioned Sothis's inquiry to him, he shook his head in a slow, deliberate motion.

"I'm afraid that's another classified secret. It's not that I don't trust you, but if other people were to find out, that place wouldn't be safe for you anymore."

"That's a terrible excuse! We're totally trustworthy, aren't we?" Sothis pouted. Byleth wanted to agree with her, but she remembered the conversation she had with Claude several days ago, after she escaped from the aviary. She tried to keep her meetings with Ignatz and Marianne under wraps, but Claude sussed out the latter's involvement and she had a sinking feeling that he knew about the former's. If other people could sleuth the truth from her that easily, she couldn't blame Claude for not wanting to confide his own secrets with her.

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself." Sothis gave her a reassuring look when her remarks were met with doubtful silence. "Even if you think you can't keep secrets well enough, I know I can! No one else can hear me, after all."

"Anyway, there's no reason to worry about this place if I'm well and alive. And with any luck, you'll be able to fly before you have to use my letter." Claude shrugged off any other questions about that topic. As if on cue, the distant clanging of bells gave him more reason to end the conversation.

"Whelp. It looks like I spent enough time here. Is there anything else you wanted to ask about? Because I have to meet up with some people soon."

Byleth was about to shake her head, but a nagging whim stopped her. She had no idea if Claude was going to indulge in this whim of hers, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. "Could you bring me books about Almyra next time you visit?"

He seemed so evasive about Almyra before, but now he responded with a wide grin that his actual spoken reply couldn't diminish. "I don't have that many books that would be suitable for light reading. Most of them are droll, textbooky stuff that doesn't paint the country or its harpies in a good light. But I'll see what I can scrounge up."

"Thank you."

Claude smiled again. These smiles that reached his eyes were dazzling compared to the fleeting ones he wore during their tense discussion. They made Byleth wish that he would display them more, but she also wondered if they were so special because they were so uncommon.

"If that's all you want, then I'm going to head out." Claude stood up and, to her surprise, tousled Byleth's hair for a brief second. "Take care, and don't cause too much trouble for Vaida, ok?"

And then he was gone again, although Byleth was too focused on her messed up hair to really process that. It was only after she finished combing it with her left wing talons that she started to miss him. Byleth knew that he was busy with his job, but the little bit of time they spent together didn't make up for his prolonged absence during the last few days. And she spent most of that time trying to fit Claude into the delusion she and Sothis came up with…

"You should have tried to wringe more information out of him." Sothis apparently did not have the same qualms. "I felt like we were getting somewhere!"

 _"There's no point to it."_ Byleth retorted. " _If Claude doesn't want to tell us his secrets, then he doesn't have to. I don't want to hurt him to satisfy your curiosity."_

"My curiosity?" Sothis said indignantly. "I thought you were curious too!"

Truthfully, she was, but she also stood by what she said. She was fine with not knowing everything with Claude. After all, he still treated her kindly and eagerly shared his wealth of knowledge. The secrets he hid from the world wouldn't change that.

"Well, if you refuse to badger him any further, then I too will cease my complaints." Sothis sighed and wrapped her wings around her chest. "Just be careful, hatchling. I still think he is a good man at heart, but that doesn't mean the rest of him, hidden or not, is inconsequential."

 _"I understand."_ Byleth nodded. She knew fully well the meaning behind her warning and the daunting task that was presented to her. Still, she was willing to balance her caution and optimism not only for her sake, or Sothis’s sake, but for Claude’s sake as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Which parts of Claude's answers were lies and which were truths? Or maybe some parts are half-truths? I'll leave it up to you to figure it out. And if you think that this will bite Claude in the butt later, then yeah you're probably right. He does have his reasons for lying, although they aren't very good reasons. We'll see what happens~
> 
> Maybe it's kinda a bad time to mention this after this sort of chapter, but if you guys have any ideas for Claude and Byleth fluff (or Golden Deer fluff) then let me know. I'd like to insert some happier moments in between major plot points so the story doesn't move too quickly. Of course, I can't guarantee I'll write everything suggested, but if something catches my eyes then I'll try my best to fit it in. :3


	13. A Horse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth wants to ride a horse. Claude should know better than to indulge her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I wanted to include horse shenanigans during Byleth's misadventures but I couldn't fit them in. I didn't want to give up the idea entirely though, so here we are now~

The next few visits from Claude were sparse and rarely lasted long. He only dropped by to feed Byleth, to check the status of her healing wing, and to take care of Vaida. Byleth understood that, as the leader of the Alliance’s premier peacekeeping militia, he had a lot of work on his plate that he couldn’t put off forever, especially now that he had several Almyran prisoners in his compound. So she didn’t begrudge him for keeping his meetings short and few in numbers. In fact, she told him once or twice that it was ok to choose his responsibilities over her. She of course would miss his company, but she didn’t want the Golden Deer to fall apart around him on her behalf.

As if to make up for his lackluster visits, Claude brought the books on Almyra that he promised earlier. He didn’t have time to read all of them with her, but he did do his best to answer any questions Byleth (and Sothis) had. True to his complaints, most of his books were incredibly dull, filled with walls of words that Byleth couldn’t understand half the time. They hardly talked about the harpies of Almyra and focused instead on matters she could care less about, like treaties and trade routes. From what she could surmise, the reason why these books didn’t have a lot of info on harpies was because they were rarely encountered on a personal level. If Almyran harpies did join the battlefield, they were either encompassed by elite warriors or maintained an altitude higher than most flying mounts could reach. Furthermore, if one happened to be felled by arrows, their accompanying soldiers would whisk their body away, adding to the veil of mystery that surrounded harpies. 

The bits that did interest her mostly involved tales of harpies that ventured into Fodlan. The reasons for these dangerous trips were unknown, but many theories were postulated in a particularly thick tome of Almyran culture. Some scholars thought that they were following a route to ancient breeding grounds, back when the borders between Fodlan and Almyra were not so well defined. Others thought that they hunted the herds of pegasi that migrated across Fodlan’s Throat. One notable researcher hypothesized an Almyran ritual of some sort, pointing to the brightly colored sash that could be found on most of these wayward harpies.

If Claude didn’t want Byleth to learn more about Almyra, he was doing a poor job at it. She methodically picked through the pages, one by one, in order to learn a little bit more, day by day. She honestly didn’t know why he was so secretive about it the first time she mentioned it. Was he afraid that she was going to fly off and join Almyra the first chance she got? Byleth harbored no such desires for reasons Claude already pointed out. He wouldn’t be able to come along with her, as the two countries were bitter enemies. She might actually have to fight him at some point if she was truly accepted into their ranks. And, perhaps most importantly, she still had her human friend to look for. From what little she remembered of him and from what she gleaned from the textbooks, she had a feeling that her human wasn’t from Almyra. In that foreign land, humans venerated harpies. They wouldn’t teach her mundane tasks like how to use a spoon, how to fish, and how to… ride a horse?

Byleth chanced upon that memory while she was taking a break from Almyra and was reading a book about the Luna Knight. The titular hero was a lady that married into House Riegan before the start of the Crescent Moon War and ended up fighting against her homeland, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. She was awed by the poetic waxings of her various deeds, struggles, and accomplishments, but what really captured her imagination was how she fought on horseback. The book described her as a peerless knight, wielding lances and riding horses like they were extensions of her very body. Somehow, the way that she galloped with the wind at her back and pierced through the hearts of her enemies reminded her of her human friend. If he was that skilled on horseback, he surely should have passed some of that knowledge down to her, right? Yet, when Byleth tried to recall such memories, her mind went blank. She definitely interacted with horses in her mysterious past, but she couldn’t remember ever sitting upon a saddle. That either meant she still had gaps in her memories or she never actually learned anything about riding in the first place.

“Well of course you wouldn’t have memories of such a feat.” Sothis rolled her eyes when Byleth mentioned this to her. “Harpies can’t ride horses. Your legs are too short and your talons wouldn’t fit into the stirrups.”

 _"I’m also not supposed to be able to use my wings like swords, or to cast magic."_ Byleth retorted. " _Why would riding a horse be different?"_

Sothis opened her mouth, then shut it when she couldn’t think of an adequate reply. She eventually spoke up again, with a defeated tone. “Hmph. It would be hypocritical of me to say what’s impossible and what’s not. Did you not recall anything when you met with Marianne’s horse, the morning after our excursion?”

Byleth hesitated before shaking her head. During that encounter, she was cold, tired, and dragged out of her hiding spot. She definitely wasn’t in the mood for happy memories of her human friend.

Sothis just sighed at her response. “Well it can’t be helped. Perhaps you should ask Claude about your idea, next time he comes around.”

Except the next time Claude dropped by, several days after his mission with the Almyrans, he had a different goal in mind for today’s visit.

"I think your wing looks good enough to take off the splint." Claude announced as he examined Byleth's wing. 

She stared at him with mute amazement. It was true that her wing hadn't been bothering her as of late, but she thought she was just getting used to its sorry state. She hadn't imagined taking the next step of her recovery so soon, yet now that Claude mentioned it, she couldn't wait for it. Once the splint was removed, she was that much closer to flight and glorious freedom.

Despite her excitement, Byleth sat very still as Claude worked on her wing. The wooden sticks and bandages fell away to reveal a ruffled mess of feathers and clammy skin. Byleth instinctively reached out with her left wing talons in order to comb everything back into place.

"Well? How does it feel?" Claude asked with a smile.

"It feels better." Byleth replied once she was done preening. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's exactly what I want to hear!" Claude's smile grew bigger. "It looks like your bones are set, so now you just need to build up your right wing muscles again. To do that, you should flap your wing and move it around like this."

He showed her various exercises that made sense to Byleth, but looked a bit silly on a human like Claude. Sothis laughed out loud at his demonstrations, yet while he guided Byleth through some of the motions, she noticed her following along out of the corner of her eyes. Claude emphasized one exercise in particular, which involved sitting on one of Vaida's perches and flapping a lot as if getting ready to take off, and tied a rope to a perch to help her get started.

"Your balance is a key factor in flight, and something you need to regain before you attempt to fly." Claude said before pausing. "At least, I think balance is important. I've never personally flown before, but riding on wyvernback has taught me a lot about it."

"That sounds about right." Byleth said. She clambered up the rope and wrapped her feet around the wooden peg. Already she was starting to wobble, and would have fallen off if it wasn't for her tight grip. She had to spread out her wings and flap them wildly in order to balance herself. An old feather shook off of her wing and drifted towards the ground, where she caught a worried glimpse from Claude before she righted herself. As soon as she was stable, his anxious expression was replaced by a grin.

"Looking good, Byleth! Just don't overexert yourself ok? It may still be a while until you can do anything more rigorous than flapping your wings."

A stray thought shot through Byleth's mind like an arrow. "Does that mean I can't try to ride a horse?"

"What." Claude sputtered with awkward laughter. "Where did you get that idea?"

Byleth climbed back down so she could speak to Claude face to face. "I was reading the Luna Knight's Tale. The heroine was good at horseback riding, so I want to try it too."

Claude stared at her incredulously, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then he laughed again and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I hate to break the news to you, but harpies can't ride horses because your legs aren't built for our saddles. They're too short and they bend the wrong way."

"See? I was right!" Sothis piped up. 

Byleth felt like mentioning to Sothis that she only ever believed Claude when he was saying stuff she agreed with, but held her tongue and turned back to Claude. "Could I at least meet a horse then? I think I remember my human friend having a connection with them… Even if I can't ride one, interacting with one might help me remember more."

"You should have started with that." Claude exclaimed. "If all you want to do is see a horse, then I'm sure I can manage something. I'm still not letting you ride one though. Horseback riding can be a dangerous sport and the last thing you need is to break your wing again."

"I understand. Thank you."

The two of them passed the remainder of their time together with idle talk and more exercises. Claude didn't show any outward concern about Byleth's idea until he was about to leave. While he stood in the doorway, he shook his head and muttered to himself with an amused smile on his face. In hindsight, Claude probably knew that Byleth saw him, but either didn't care or wanted her to see his reaction for some unfathomable reason.

Byleth wasn't prepared for Claude to uphold his promise the very next day. Mostly because he woke her up at the crack of dawn by throwing a familiar white robe onto her slumbering figure.

"Huh? What's this? Byleth mumbled while stifling a yawn. 

"It's a disguise for you. We're going outside for the horse, and even though there's barely anyone awake this early in the morning, I figure it's better to be safe than sorry."

If Sothis was awake, she would have helped Byleth comprehend what he just said. Unfortunately for her, the phantom girl was a deep sleeper, and couldn't be roused by anyone but herself. All Byleth could do was stare blankly at Claude and say, "Wha?"

Claude chuckled softly. "I can't bring a horse into Vaida's room, so I'm bringing you to the horse. Besides, it'll be good for you to get some fresh air."

A few awkward seconds later, her mind finally registered what Claude said. Byleth should have been surprised that Claude was letting her outside, considering the trouble she caused last time. Instead, she was overjoyed by this rare opportunity, and hastily slipped the robes over her feathery frame while Claude prepared his wyvern for departure. Like before, its voluminous sleeves didn't hinder her movement very much. She didn't even need any help climbing onto Vaida's back once they were outside.

The flight to Claude's mystery location was brief, but left Byleth wanting for more. The wind that blew in her face soothed her tension and made her heart soar all at the same time. She couldn't wait until she could take to the skies with her own pair of wings. However, it wouldn't do to lament about her current, flightless circumstances, especially during a favor from Claude. 

Vaida eventually lowered herself into a small forest just beyond the walls of the Riegan estate. The green hue of dew-covered leaves was a relief to Byleth's eyes, which were so used to the dull grey and dusty brown of civilization. What delighted her more, however, was an off-white horse with a flowing mane and wispy tufts of fur growing on its legs. It stood next to a small hut presumably used for hunting, and did not flinch when a wyvern landed nearby.

The rocking of Vaida's descent must have awakened Sothis, because she materialized soon after Byleth dismounted. She yawned, then her emerald eyes grew as wide as her mouth when she realized where they were.

"Byleth? Why are we in the middle of a forest?" She asked. Byleth didn't respond, letting the horse's presence answer her question in her stead. Sothis shifted her gaze from the horse, to Byleth, to Claude, then back to the horse. "Huh. I never would have guessed that Claude would follow through on that ridiculous whim of yours."

"Byleth, this is Dayan. Dayan, this is Byleth." Claude unwittingly interrupted Sothis to introduce the harpy to the horse. "He's my personal mount, like Vaida, except he's a lot gentler and a lot less sassy."

Vaida behind them snorted, like she didn't appreciate what was said about her. Byleth slowly crept up to Dayan to get a better look at the majestic beast. He was a lot bigger than she imagined and she reckoned that he could bash her head in a well-aimed kick. Yet Byleth wasn't afraid of him, not in the slightest. She stretched out her left wing in order to pat his forehead. Dayan's dark brown eyes expanded just a tad as his ears stood straight up in attention.

"Hm. You know what? It's rude to introduce yourself without a gift. Here." Claude reached into a bag Byleth didn't know he had, pulled out an apple, and placed the shiny, red orb into her talons.

Byleth didn't need any further explanation. She offered the apple up to Dayan, who chomped down on it eagerly. The horse's tongue occasionally licked her talons, eliciting a giggle from Byleth. Once Dayan was finished with the apple, he pressed his muzzle against her claws and nickered, a horsey request for more treats. Byleth turned to Claude to ask for another apple, only to spot a strange look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" She blurted out.

"Oh. Nah. Far from it. I'm glad that you two are getting along swimmingly." Claude brushed away his expression with a mellow smile. "It's just that I had hoped that the first time I heard you laugh, it would be at one of my jokes."

Byleth froze with her talons still on Dayan's head. She didn't even realize she laughed, since the mirthful sound bubbled out of her instinctively. Did Claude really have to make a big deal about it? 

As well as Sothis, apparently? "You should laugh more often. It sounds nice." She remarked.

"I only laughed because his tongue tickled. It isn't a big deal." Byleth felt her cheeks warming up and cursed her body for betraying her.

"So you're ticklish. Gotcha. I'll remember that the next time I want to hear you laugh." Claude smirked, then wiped away that smirk when he was met with a blank stare from Byleth. 

He shifted his focus from teasing Byleth to showing her how to comb Dayan's fur. Byleth thought that the rhythmic motions would get tedious after a while, but she found some kind of simple comfort in them. Maybe it was because she was grooming the horse with Claude. He walked her through the task with his usual, easygoing tone, guided her talons with his own hands, and offered up a smile and laugh whenever something funny happened, all while being surrounded by undisturbed greenery and the early morning light. 

“You know, I’m glad that Dayan accepted you so quickly.” Claude admitted. “I was actually a bit afraid that he would react poorly to a harpy, since he’s never seen one before. Animals are pretty nice like that, huh? In order to be accepted by one, all you have to do is offer them food and an open palm.”

Byleth would have agreed, if it weren't for an unpleasant memory from around a week ago. "When I was outside the aviary, I came across a cat that hissed at me for no reason." She told Claude in a matter-of-fact voice.

"What kind of cat?" 

"It was… orange with stripes, I think."

"Aha. I figured that you met Lorenz, our resident sourpuss." Claude winked at her. "He doesn't like anyone, so don't take it too personally." 

"His name is Lorenz?" Byleth, having met the cat's namesake, couldn't fathom why he deserved such cruelty.

"Yeah. He was a stray so prickly, we named him after Lorenz for laughs. But now the tables have turned because Lorenz is one of the few people that can handle him, so he keeps the cat around just to torment the rest of us."

Claude glanced at Byleth with a light smile on his face and expectant eyes. Byleth stared back blankly before she realized that he was waiting for her to laugh at his story. When no such sound escaped from her lips, Claude shifted his attention back to Dayan and gave his mane one final pass from his comb.

“So did you remember anything yet?” He asked. Byleth hesitated as his words drudged up some long forgotten memory, but the memory was stubborn and didn’t surface readily.

“I… think so.” She eventually said. Claude's story may not have elicited a laugh, but it did uncover another pet's name. “I cared for a horse like this once. Her name was Trixie.”

“You can remember the horse’s name, but not your friend’s?”

Byleth shook her head sadly. Claude sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Nevermind that. Anything else?”

Byleth stared long and hard into Dayan’s soft eyes. The horse was oblivious to her troubles and broke eye contact to munch on some grass at his feet. She squinted as she tried to recall more details. There was something missing from Dayan that Trixie had, and it wasn’t until she voiced her thoughts out loud that she realized what it was.

“She was wearing… armor. Over her head, neck, chest, and flank.”

“So like a knight’s steed? Interesting.” Claude tapped his chin with an index finger. “I wouldn’t have guessed that a knight could befriend a harpy, but I suppose the same is true for a duke’s son. Did her armor have any insignia on them? Were they any specific color?”

Byleth shook her head again. “It was the normal, steely color.”

“Oh well. You still gave me a lot to go on. Not many people can afford a full set of armor for their horse. Even a normal knight wouldn’t be able to outfit their mount completely. Your friend must be either a high ranking knight or very rich. Do you remember him riding into battle?”

“Not… really. I saw him doing so, but I can’t say much more about it.”

“That’s a pity. A knight’s fighting style differs by the house they serve, did you know? Like those of House Aegir favor agile, acrobatic movements while those of House Gautier make excellent frontliners. I’m not super familiar with all of them, but if you could have described them to me, I have some acquaintances that could help me narrow things down.”

Byleth hung her head apologetically. She wished her memories were just a bit clearer. It was more frustrating to her to have the answer so close by, yet still out of reach. Claude, sensing her distress, flashed a smile and quickly changed the topic.

“Well, enough of that. If you can’t remember anything else, there’s no use in pushing yourself. Do you want me to teach you how to braid Dayan’s mane?”

The harpy’s face lit up when he suggested that. Anything to get her mind off her amnesia was fine by her. The two of them passed more time with relative ease. Claude’s braids were so much tighter and neater than Byleth’s attempts, but she was still having fun until Claude was momentarily distracted by something in the sky. She followed his glance upwards and only spotted a pair of circling black dots that soon descended into the canopy some distance away.

“Hey, uh. Do you mind if I leave you alone for a sec? I just remembered that I have to take care of something.” Claude asked absentmindedly, part of his gaze still focused on the skies above.

Even Byleth could notice something off about him, but her heart spoke before her mind did. “Yeah. Go ahead.”

“Thanks, Byleth! I’ll be back before you miss me!” He said before directing his attention towards Vaida. “And Vaida, I expect you to keep Byleth out of trouble this time. Really!”

The white wyvern yawned in response, showing off her impressive fangs. Claude darted off into the thick of the forest without another word. Byleth stared at the spot where he vanished through the leaves while Sothis tsked in the background.

“Well that certainly isn’t suspicious at all.” She commented. “I wonder what got him so flustered? Hurry up and follow him!”

Byleth remained where she was. A split second passed before Sothis sighed and rested her cheek against her knuckles. “You’re still letting that boy keep his secrets, aren’t you? Fine. But we should still do something with the precious solitude he has afforded us. Like…”

Her verdant gaze drifted towards Dayan. Sothis fluttered over and seated herself on his saddle. She looked out of place on his back, with the saddle basically enveloping her body and her feet unable to reach the stirrups. But she still displayed an impish grin and patted Dayan’s back as an invitation to Byleth to try it out herself.

“Let’s see who’s right. Claude and I, or you.”

Byleth didn’t take up her challenge right away. Even though Dayan was the kindest horse she ever met, she was scared about what might happen if she startled him. And if Claude found her trying out something he explicitly told her not to do, there might be consequences.

Would there be consequences? The last time she disobeyed him was when she used the magic tome at Sothis’s insistence. There was also the time before that, when she escaped from the aviary and ran around in the outside world for a bit. Both times, Claude was exasperated, but didn’t really punish her. As long as Byleth didn’t hurt herself, he wouldn’t be able to tell that she got up to some mischief. She might even remember some more memories, which was sure to make him happy.

The only problem now was figuring out how to get onto Dayan’s back in the first place. Byleth had to take off her robes in order to achieve this. She lifted one foot to grip the stirrup and placed her good wing talons on the edge of the saddle. As soon as she did that, Vaida lifted her head and stared at her with… well, wyverns weren’t as expressive as humans, but Byleth assumed that she stared at her with some sort of interest.

Claude and Sothis were right. Her legs were too short to vault herself over Dayan’s back without letting go of the stirrup. She pushed herself up and over while releasing her hold on the stirrup. In one clumsy motion, she landed right in his saddle. Her feet dangled uselessly and her tail splayed out uncomfortably but she did it. She was on a horse’s back! Byleth gave Sothis a knowing smirk, and the green girl only rolled her eyes in return.

At this point, Vaida stood up and towered over Byleth and Dayan in a somewhat intimidating manner. Dayan’s ears pulled back as he swished his tail side to side. Byleth thought that by being one of Claude’s personal mount, he would be used to the presence of Claude’s other mount, but apparently not when she looked like she was going to take a bite out of him. Byleth grabbed his reins and flicked it, hoping that she could guide Dayan away from Vaida, but the horse did not budge an inch. She then realized that she just tried to get the horse to move, with her still on top of him. Yes, horse riding was one of her most wanted goals, but she didn’t think she had that much time to take Dayan out for a walk before Claude came back. It was too risky to attempt even a light trot around the clearing.

But as it turned out, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Vaida’s neck arched over Byleth and Dayan. It was apparent to Byleth that she was going to yank the harpy out of the saddle, but it wasn’t apparent at all to Dayan. The horse snorted and took a step back, out of Vaida’s reach. A low grumble escaped from Vaida as she tried to grab Byleth again. Her jaws closed in on Dayan’s unfortunate rider, but snapped at thin air as Byleth dodged her attempt. That sound was enough to send Dayan into a panic. With a high-pitched whinny, the horse whirled around and ran into the forest, with Byleth still on his back. She too let out a scream as she was rendered helpless, with nothing saving her from the ground below except her diminishing grasp on the reins.

* * *

Claude was having a perfectly nice morning before they showed up.

He never knew that taking care of Dayan with Byleth could be so calming. With them, all his worries about his duties faded away. He just had to make sure that Byleth didn’t hurt his horse while she groomed him, which really wasn’t a problem because the harpy was as gentle as ever, and that Byleth was enjoying herself. With those objectives taken care of, he could lose himself in the rhythmatic stroking, the sights and sounds of nature, the memory of Byleth’s first laugh… He didn’t even care that Byleth couldn’t remember much about her human friend. In another time and place, he would have tried to coax more details out of her, but right now, that matter was secondary to Byleth herself.

It was bittersweet in a way. Claude was doing this for her because her wing was healing, so she didn’t have to focus solely on recovery. Yet as her wing got better, they got closer to the day they would have to part. He wouldn’t have many more moments like these, especially with how busy he was with the Almyran prisoners. However, instead of mourning over their inevitable departure, Claude threw himself into the present even more. He avoided such thoughts until he couldn’t avoid them any longer, like when they took the appearance of twin black dots in the sky.

When they descended towards the ground, Claude gave Byleth a hasty excuse and ran off. He was perfectly aware of lame he sounded, but he was sure that he could take care of Shedu and Anqa quickly enough. All he had to do was to shoo them off, ask them to come back another time.

Of course, life rarely went as planned. As soon as Claude spotted the two harpies, the one with dark plumage spun around and threw a feather-dagger at his head. Claude stepped to the side to avoid it while pulling out his own dagger. The two men stood there, glaring at each other, until Shedu eased up.

“[What are you guys doing here?]” Claude asked in a not so lenient manner. He knew that Shedu’s attempted attack wasn’t serious. It was just the Almyran way of greeting brothers in arms. Still, he didn’t dare to lower his dagger, in case his received answer wasn’t friendly.

“[Do you need to ask? We’re looking for you.]” Shedu rolled his eyes.

“[It took you two long enough to find me.]” Claude relaxed his stance a little bit. 

“[It was my fault.]” Anqa blurted out. “[I dropped my staff when you shot at us, so it took us the rest of the day to find it and heal our wounds. By that time, your trail had gone cold.]”

“[I’m surprised you were able to follow me here then. You didn’t cause any trouble on the way, did you?]”

Shedu shook his head, to Claude’s relief. “[We laid low.]”

“[Thanks for making my life easier for once.]” Claude relaxed enough to put his dagger away, although he still rested a hand on its pommel. “[But you guys still came at a really bad time. Can we meet up again later? I need to take care of something first.]”

“[Is it about the harpy?]”

Shedu’s question took Claude off guard, although it really shouldn’t have. He was known for his perfect eyesight that not only enabled him to strike his targets with deadly accuracy, but also allowed him to make out details from incredible distances. In fact, his nickname among the corsairs was Sharp-eyed Shedu, which his twin sister earned the moniker of Keen-clawed Lamassu. Anyway, to him, it would have been a simple task to notice Byleth’s harpy-ness from the skies, even while she was garbed in a cleric’s robes.

His silence was telling, motivating Shedu to ask more questions. “[She is not Almyran. Where did you find her?]”

“[I’ll tell you about her later, promise. I really need to get back to her, or else she’ll get into some sort of mischief.]” Claude was hoping that he could keep Byleth’s existence from the Almyrans a bit longer, but now that the jig was up, there was no point in denying it anymore. Besides, his first and foremost concern was returning to the hunting shack as soon as possible, since Byleth didn’t have a very good track record of following his wishes when left alone.

To Claude’s amazement, it wasn’t Shedu who stopped him from leaving, but Anqa. The timid shaman spoke barely above a whisper, but her words still pierced through his entire being.

“[Are you two… um… together?]”

Claude had to suppress an indignant reaction. Why did people think he and Byleth were an item when they barely saw them together? He managed to calm himself enough so his denial rang loud and clear. “[No. We’re not. I heard that you two are, though. Congratulations.]”

“[T-thank you!]” Anqa bowed her head to hide a blush on her face. Shedu, meanwhile, narrowed his golden eyes.

“[Who told you that?]”

“[Who else?]” Claude replied back impatiently. 

“[So Lamassu is safe?]” 

Claude was about to answer with a yes before an ear-splitting whinny pierced the air. Without hesitation, he left the two harpies behind to run to the aid of the third harpy. He didn’t care that Shedu and Anqa followed him through the undergrowth. What mattered was getting there as fast as possible, before Byleth actually managed to hurt herself this time.

Yet, despite his efforts, he arrived at a clearing without a harpy or a horse. The only soul around was a wyvern, who didn’t lumber over to greet her master with a nuzzle. Which meant she was feeling guilty over her failure to protect Byleth from harm.

“[Vaida, you were supposed to stop her from escaping again! What am I going to do with you?]”

His wyvern flicked a tail and averted her gaze. Of course, Claude didn’t mean what he said. He took his frustrations out on himself by slapping a hand over his face and groaning. Why did Byleth always attract trouble like flies to honey? She was going to be the death of him if this kept up. He couldn’t let himself wallow in his misery though. Byleth was out there with a renegade horse, and even though her wing was healing nicely, she still was unable to fly and thus was still a sitting duck. 

“[The horse went that way.]” Shedu only needed to glance at the hoofprints in the dirt once to determine the direction Dayan went in.

“[You two can’t follow me anymore.]” Claude jerked his head to the side, a gesture telling them to get out of here. “[The harpy is my problem, so I’ll take care of her by myself.]”

“[Are you certain? I-I felt like we caused this mess, so the least we can do is help.]” Anqa protested. Claude looked at Shedu, expecting him to be eager to leave his hapless friend behind, but was astonished to see that he agreed with Anqa. Either he was too curious about Byleth to give up that easily, or his fiance’s words swayed him. If the latter was true, then Anqa must be stronger in spirit than she initially appeared. From Claude’s experience, it took a special someone to influence the usually stubborn Shedu to their side.

Claude couldn’t waste anymore time arguing about this. That very action led him to this predicament in the first place. He threw his hands up in the air in surrender. “[Fine. But you can’t be seen by her. Otherwise you’ll make things a whole lot worse.]”

As he trailed after Dayan’s hoofprints, he heard the pattering of harpy talons behind him that were thankfully masked by the stomping of wyvern feet. He also heard some choice remarks from Shedu that Vaida wasn’t able to drown out with her trampling.

“[Why will knowledge of us make things worse?]” He asked before coming to his own conclusions. “[It’s because you lied to her, didn’t you?]”

Claude didn’t have a good retort for him. Normally, he wouldn’t have lied to Byleth so blatantly, since it was a lot harder to recover from the fallout if she ever found out the truth, but he saw no way out of her direct questioning. For all her gullibleness, she (or was it Sothis?) was oddly on the mark at the most inopportune moments. 

He actually hated lying to her during that conversation from a few days ago. He hated it so much, he debated telling her the truth, the real reason why he knew so much about Almyra and its harpies. After all, an amnesiac harpy deserved to learn more about her kind, and he couldn’t help her by being evasive. Which was funny, because ordinarily he wouldn’t bat an eye to this habit of his. But old habits died hard, as well as ingrained fears. If he confirmed that he was, in fact, on friendly relations with a country that his house hated, she might figure out that he was actually from there, and he wasn’t wholly human like she had assumed. And then would she still regard him so warmly? The thought of being rejected by someone Claude had inadvertently grown attached to made his heart ache. So he gave into his paranoia and lied about everything. Which pained him just as much, but at least it was a pain he could deal with. 

To Claude’s relief, Shedu sensed his discomfort and dropped the subject. Soon after he fell silent, Claude stopped at a particularly thick patch of foliage that covered the rest of Dayan’s tracks. He surveyed his surroundings for any visible signs of his horse of Byleth, but spotted nothing. 

“[Well this is just great.]” He let out a heavy sigh. Of course he had to show Byleth a horse that was fast on his feet and could carry his rider across countries and leave her alone with him. He crouched down to study the ground once again while the flap of wings rustled behind him. Claude turned around to catch a glimpse of Shedu flying up to the highest branches of a nearby tree. He didn’t think that Sharp-eyed Shedu was that great at scanning through a forest, but thankfully, he was proven wrong.

“[I see movement that way.]” Shedu called out while pointing northwards.

“[Don’t talk so loudly. She might hear you.]” Claude responded, then after a moment’s hesitation added, “[But thanks.]”

Shedu silently dropped back to the earth right before Claude took off again with renewed vigor. He hoped that the harpy wasn’t playing a prank on him during this dire situation. Although Shedu didn’t usually joke around, leaving that sort of behavior to his sister most of the time, he did partake in the occasional ribbing. Then again, his fiance was around, which provided him another good reason to take this seriously.

Claude’s expectations were rewarded with the welcoming sight of Dayan, munching away at some young sprouts. He ran over to his side to check to see if he was alright and to give him a pat on the head. On the way, he almost tripped over a body laying on her back, in a patch of ferns that previously concealed her. His heart skipped a beat when he spotted Byleth’s teal hair tangled in leaves, but it calmed down when he then saw her blue eyes wide open and giving him a strange look. A look that was both relieved to see him and wondered what took him so long to find her.

“Byleth! Are you hurt?” Claude knelt down beside her. He couldn’t see any visible injuries, but that didn’t mean she didn’t suffer from any. 

“I’m a little hurt.” She admitted. “Got some bruises and cuts. But nothing’s broken, I think.”

“Can you stand up? There are better places to rest than on the ground, you know.” Claude reached out a hand to help her up. He wasn’t even going to question why she was down there in the first place.

Byleth didn’t answer right away, instead opting to take his offered hand and wobble onto her feet. It was obvious to Claude that she was hiding her pain, judging from her short-lived winces, but at least she was able to move. All he had to do was to get her back to the aviary and treat her hopefully minor injuries.

“Byleth, we have got to stop meeting like this.” He said without thinking.

“Like what?”

“This.” Claude waved a hand over her entire body. “You go against my wishes, and then I find you where you aren’t supposed to be or doing something you aren’t supposed to be doing. Or both, in this case. I'm not trying to be mean when I tell you not to do something. I'm trying to keep you out of harm's way.”

Byleth’s gaze flickered downwards, causing Claude to instantly realize his mistake. Now was not the time to be scolding her, not while she was in pain. Besides, she had to have learned her lesson by now. How many more times must she suffer from a fall into a pond or a fall off a horse or whatever before she got the point?

“At least we figured something out though.” Claude smirked.

“What?”

“We figured out that you did not learn how to ride a horse.”

Byleth fell silent. The only sounds around Claude were the gentle rustling of leaves tossed by a breeze and distant birdsong. Then, he heard something more wondrous than the music from the land spirit. He heard Byleth laugh.

“Hey, I finally got you to laugh at my joke!” Claude couldn’t help but laugh himself.

“Yeah.” Byleth’s laugh faded away just as quickly as it sounded. As much as Claude would love to hang out in the wilderness with her for a bit longer, it was clear that she was tired and wanted to go home. 

“Here, Vaida will take you back to her room while I bring Dayan back to the stables.” Claude wrapped Byleth in the robes she left behind. She took a step forward, then promptly stumbled. If Claude hadn’t been holding onto her, she would have planted her face into the ground.

Ok, so she wasn’t really able to walk. That made things more complicated. He would probably have to spend the rest of the morning tending to whatever hindered her, which would be hard to explain to the Golden Deer he planned to meet up with. While his mind swirled with various half-baked schemes, another wondrous sound echoed through the forest, first as whispers, then as a full-blown song consisting of unearthly tones and words. As soon as the song reached Byleth’s ears, a faint glow wrapped around her entire being. She blinked at the pinpoints of lights, and by the time she realized what was happening, the tiny firefly-like sparks had vanished. Claude spared a glance behind him while Byleth was distracted, trying to discern the harpy shaman from the shadows of the trees. He couldn’t see her, but he knew she was around all the same. 

“Claude, what was that?” Byleth asked, her voice showing marked improvement.

“Must be some weird phenomenon.” Claude lied. “Sometimes there are magical plants or creatures in old forests like these that can make a lightshow, complete with a song. It didn’t hurt you, did it?”

Byleth shook her head, a motion that slowed down as she realized something important. “I’m not hurting anymore. And…”

“And?” Claude couldn’t possibly imagine what else went wrong.

“I recognize the song.” She said with confidence. “Or rather, Sothis recognized it.”

Claude was taken by surprise so much, he almost dropped her right then and there. How could a harpy with no memories of her past, much less Almyra, recognize the Heavenly Light Galdr? No. This wasn’t from Byleth’s memory, but from Sothis’s, the ghostly girl that was somehow more mysterious than her host. To further his amazement, Byleth continued on.

“She says there are lyrics to it.”

“What kind of lyrics?” Claude asked while holding back his brimming curiosity.

Byleth’s eyes flitted to the side before she closed them. When she opened her mouth ever so slightly, a beautiful melody poured out of her lips, a melody that was hauntingly familiar yet unfamiliar, thanks to Byleth’s (Sothis’s?) own twist to it.

_“The Heavenly Lights gaze upon the flames,_

_Washing dark ashes away like the rain._

_Pinpoints of green turn their eyes to afar,_

_Thanking their lifegiver among the stars._

“That’s… all she could remember.” Byleth finished with a yawn.

"You didn't tell me you can sing well." Claude blurted out. Fortunately for him, his compliment went unnoticed, as Byleth promptly fell asleep on his shoulders.

This was fine. Byleth's sudden nap allowed him time to commit those words to memory. For someone who didn’t know anything about a shaman’s Galdrs, Byleth provided a scarily accurate translation of one. There were some differences, of course, to account for language differences. Like the Almyran lyrics explicitly called the ‘pinpoints of green’ newly sprouted plants, and referenced the light spirit by name. But other than that…

Everytime Claude thought he was getting close to figuring out the duo of Byleth and Sothis, their enigmas only compounded. Did Sothis understand Anqa’s Galdr? No, of course not. If she knew Almyran, they would be holding much different conversations, starting from a long time ago. So how did she come up with the right words on the spot? He also wondered if Sothis’s song was also a lullaby of some sort as he picked the sleeping harpy up and carried her onto Vaida’s back. It looked like he was going to have to ride with Byleth on wyvern back, while also guiding his horse out of here. It was a good thing that he had the foresight to conduct this meeting in a forest, not only because his secret remained safe from the Golden Deer, but also because he chanced into a reunion with Shedu and Anqa.

Speaking of them, the engaged couple landed a few feet away from Claude. He made sure that Byleth was sound asleep before speaking with them in the Almyran tongue.

“[It was very risky to sing your Galdr for Byleth.]” He told Anqa. “[Still, it was much appreciated. Thank you, Anqa.]”

“[It was the least I could do for you, Prince Khalid.]” She bowed deeply.

Claude didn’t have time to get flustered over his title and real name before Shedu interrupted them. “[The harpy’s name is Byleth then?]”

“[Yeah.]”

“[She sang part of the Heavenly Light Galdr, yet she shows no sign of being a shaman nor Almyran.]” His tone of voice indicated that he was more confused than upset. “[Just who is she?]”

“[I have no idea. That’s the honest truth.]” Claude sighed deeply. Even if he did know everything about this mysterious harpy, he wasn’t sure if he was going to tell Shedu about her.

Shedu’s eyes darted from Claude to Byleth, then back to Claude. He seemed uneasy about taking his explanation at face value, but he accepted that he had no choice. “[Where did you find her? You promised that you would explain her to us.]”

“[I found her during a mission near the Airmid River. I don’t know where she came from otherwise. She broke her wing while saving my life, so that’s why I’m taking care of her until she can fly again.]”

“[If she needs healing, I can help.]” Anqa brandished her magic staff.

“[Thanks, but no thanks. She’s almost fully recovered, she just needs to stop getting into stupid situations like these.]”

Shedu narrowed his eyes, sensing his hidden intention. “[She knows nothing of who you are.]”

“[Yeah. I’m not proud of it, but it’s a necessity. I hardly know anything about her, so what if she’s really my enemy?]”

“[I don’t think she’s your enemy. I can feel a warm aura from her.]” Anqa piped.

“[Some prudence is necessary when dealing with a stranger.]” Shedu concurred with Claude. “[Still, if you care about her, you need to reveal the truth at some point. A relationship built upon lies will fall apart like a flimsy nest when faced with a storm.]”

“[I know that. I…]”

He was about to say that he was planning to tell Byleth everything sometime, when he was ready, but that would be another lie. She was going to leave soon, and they were probably never going to see each other afterwards, so what was the point of revealing himself as a liar? 

Also, he didn’t care for Byleth as much as Shedu thought. At least, he didn’t think he cared. All he had to do was ignore his letter to Byleth, his concern for her wellbeing, his smiles, his ill feelings when he lied to her...

“[I’ll take care of things.]” Claude eventually settled for a non-committal response. “[Right now, I need to take Byleth back home and get to work. I’ll see you guys later about Lamassu and the other Almyrans, alright? Don’t give me anymore trouble.]”

“[We won’t.]” Anqa spoke for herself and Shedu. Which was a good thing, because he was sure the corsair would like to grill him more about Byleth. Without giving them any more time or reason to prolong their encounter, he climbed onto Vaida’s back and ushered her into flight just above the treetops while Dayan followed dutifully behind them.


	14. A Song of Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After receiving an anticipated letter, Claude makes several lengthy preparations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a vacation from work last week that I was planning to use for travelling but that didn't plan out for obvious reasons lol. So instead of doing anything productive, I just wrote a bunch of chapters. :P
> 
> This chapter has a lot of exposition, so I apologize in advance! I originally had a different plot in mind, but decided to go a different route, so now I had to dump a lot of backstory into this chapter for the future to make sense. And then I tried to explain some game mechanisms, partially because it was relevant and partially because I wanted to write out my various headcanons for Three Houses. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading the chapter despite all the words!

Ever since Claude returned from Gloucester, it has been one thing after another.

Firstly, he had to take care of the immediate problems that were the Almyrans. They were marched into Cornwall’s prisons easily enough, with a sufficient number of guards to keep them there. What he was more concerned about the interrogations that were to follow. Before the interpreter from House Goneril arrived, Claude snuck down to the prisons every night to drill the Almyrans on what to say and what not to say. It was alright for them to slip in the truth here or there, and in fact it was preferable to do so, to make their act more believable. But he couldn’t let them mention the wayward prince of Almyra that saved their lives and hid among his enemies. Claude had to come up with another excuse as to why they were here, and eventually settled upon branding them as exiles from their kingdom. It took another night or two to iron out a consistent backstory that Lamassu and the others could follow, and with each mistake they uttered during their ‘practice interrogations’, Claude’s heart skipped a beat. Too many errors would bring this delicate scheme crumbling down like a house of cards. 

Secondly, he had to take care of the hole he inflicted upon Lamassu’s wing. This was actually an easier matter to handle than the first, because he had the right concoction for the job. Claude had to forgo even more sleep to brew a steady supply of them, but if Lamassu couldn’t fly, then there was no way she was getting out of Fodlan. He also had to convince Lamassu that his potion wasn’t poison, but an elixir that accelerated feather regeneration. Verbally sparring with the feisty harpy was actually somewhat relaxing for Claude, if only because he could work out his frustrations on someone.

Thirdly, he had to come up with the impossibly foolproof plan that would grant the Almyrans their freedom. As days of futile interrogations and nights of endless plotting dragged on, he became acutely aware of the nebulous deadline he had. Being the leader of the Golden Deer and the governor of the estate meant that Claude had the final word of what to do about the Almyrans, but his allies wouldn’t agree with him forever. If he dragged their imprisonment out for too long, they might start to get restless and take matters into their own hands. Well, Claude doubted that the Golden Deer themselves would undergo such drastic measures, but the ordinary employees of the estate might think otherwise, especially since stories of the bloodthirsty, corruptive harpies were prolific in this corner of the Alliance.

Fourthly, he was getting that persistent, burning itch under his skin again. There wasn’t much he could do about it now other than to down some medicine for relief. The relentless irritation meant that he was going to have to deal with more visible problems soon, on top of everything else. Claude knew that they were coming, since they were part of a natural, cyclical process like growing hair or fingernails, but he still couldn’t help but be frustrated at their timing. Now was not a great time for them to show up.

If there was one glimmer of hope throughout this ordeal, it was Byleth. She was always happy to see him (or the food he brought), she was a great conversationalist (even though Claude had to do most of the talking, and he couldn’t talk about everything he wanted to), and, most importantly, she remained safe. Her broken wing was also healing up nicely, to the point where he could remove her splint. He didn’t even mind her strange request to ride a horse, thinking that nothing could go wrong if he brought her outside for some fresh air and an introduction to his beloved steed.

Well, things did go wrong, but things ended up going right too. Claude found Shedu and Anqa, and found out something very interesting about Sothis. He would have liked to dig into that matter a little bit more, but the next day, Lorenz announced that he got a reply from his friend in Fhirdiad.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t sneak a peek.” Claude remarked as he was handed the parcel of papers. The still-sealed envelope was heavier than he anticipated. There must be a lot of dirt on this Myson guy, or Lorenz’s friend was very eager to share confidential information, or both.

“Do you really believe me to be that uncouth?” Lorenz scoffed. “A noble must never snoop into another’s business, no matter how curious they may be. Besides, I received my own letter from my friend, eliminating the necessity to pry.”

“Thanks, Lorenz.” Claude said dryly. That long-winded response was just the Gloucester heir’s way of being reassuring, but it still wasn’t enough to encourage Claude to open the letter in front of him. He sequestered himself into his room to go over them, in case it had details he didn’t care to divulge to the purple buffoon.

It turned out that the letter had a lot of details. His informant, which only went by the initials of AFD, included not only Myson’s student records but also copies of reports that spoke of an interesting incident. Myson, whose real name was Arturio Regaly, was a commoner from Ordelia who displayed remarkable magical talent and enrolled in the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery under a scholarship. But a half-year into his schooling, he was expelled due to associating with an anarchistic group known as Those Who Slither in the Dark. Claude sifted through the numerous papers that outlined the series of events that led to his expulsion. At first, Myson didn’t commit any serious crimes. At least, not by the academy’s rulings. He made nasty remarks concerning foreign students, was disruptive during classes, and vandalized school property with an emblem in the shape of a stylized eye surrounded by geometric lines that resembled branches. Claude lingered on a drawing of such a symbol on his papers, and the eye stared back unflinchingly.

The final straw for the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery was thievery, plain and simple. Myson stole magical tomes and equipment, presumably for Those Who Slither in the Dark, for quite some time before he was caught. After he was kicked out, his fate became as shadowy as the organization he allied with. There was a brief blurb about Myson returning to his home in Ordelia, which Claude believed, but it wasn’t much to go on. He was forced to connect the dots by himself.

So after this hooligan was expelled, did he join Those Who Slither in the Dark? If he did, why was he running with bandits when Claude met him? Why was he wearing robes and a pin from the School of Sorcery? Admittedly, this whole thing didn’t make sense. Claude wouldn’t have placed any faith in this information if it didn’t come from a reputable source and he didn’t go through so much to acquire it. 

Weren’t Those Who Slither in the Dark supposed to be eradicated? He had to consult some modern history books for this, but after some thorough research, he proved himself correct. This organization instigated the Tragedy of Duscur, which killed King Lambert of House Blaiddyd and many of his royal knights, and the Imperial Villa Fire, which wiped out most of House Hresvelg’s children and gravely injured the Adrestian Emperor of the time, Emperor Ionius XI. The motivation behind these horrific acts was unclear at best, but the current King and Emperor insisted that they were trying to halt the radical reforms that their predecessors would bring, including reforms that would open Fodlan up to the outside world. In retaliation for the foul deeds, and in a rare show of solidarity, the Adrestian Empire and the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus worked together to eliminate their shared enemy swiftly and brutally. When they were done, the surviving heirs of the Empire and Kingdom, Princess Edelgard and Prince Dimitri respectively, ascended the throne to ensure that these assassins never threatened anyone again.

This all mostly happened before Claude came to Fodlan. He only caught the aftermath of their struggle, when he heard of two nobles around his age becoming Emperor and King. As far as he could tell, from history books, recountings from his peers, and his own memories, the Alliance weren’t very involved in the terroristic group’s destruction. They lended their aid, of course, but they didn’t have to partake in many battles because Those Who Slithered in the Dark hadn’t infiltrated their lands as thoroughly as their neighbors'.

Except, according to this letter, they had. Myson was from Ordelia, and might have continued their activities in that area. But did Those Who Slither in the Dark really survive the Empire’s and Kingdom’s justice, or did Myson just run with a bunch of copycats? The timing of everything was certainly suspicious. Myson enrolled in the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery three years ago, several years after the organization was supposedly eradicated. It was also when tensions between Fodlan and other nations leaked from a diplomat’s table to the general populace. King Dimitri sought to mend relations with Duscur and Sreng with the free exchange of ideas, goods, and people. Part of that exchange included exchange students who enrolled in some of Faerghus’s most esteemed schools, like the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery. Claude wasn’t surprised that the animosity in the school allowed a xenophobic organization like Those Who Slither in the Dark to revive itself, either as a shallow copy or the real deal. He also wasn’t surprised that the school didn’t defend their foreign students until objects of actual monetary value were stolen. Incidents like these reminded him why he needed to be careful about letting his true lineage show.

All of this was very interesting. Claude had a feeling that Myson was a part of something bigger, and he was glad that he wasn’t dissuaded from his theory when he first learned that the bandit leader was just a student of the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery. If he received this letter at any other time, he would have shared it with the Golden Deer almost immediately. There was one member in particular who would love to get her hands on these documents. Unfortunately for her, Claude would need to keep her in the dark for a bit longer. The rumored existence of Those Who Slither in the Dark fit into his schemes perfectly, like the last piece to an unfinished puzzle. All he needed to do now were several simple but important things.

Firstly, he replied back to a letter from a village in Acheron. Being the leader of the militia that caught them, he was glad to take the bandit prisoners out of their care. Claude still had some use for them, although he couldn’t mention that in his response.

Secondly, he finally got around to General Holst’s request for assistance at Fodlan’s Locket. Hilda’s brother knew that the Golden Deer didn’t usually partake in such missions, but he always asked anyway, just in case. This time, there was a vicious skirmish at the border not too long ago, with the famed harpy general Nader making an appearance. House Goneril repelled that attack as usual, but he worried that it was the start of something bigger. Claude was actually able to provide some help, even though it wasn’t exactly the help he asked for. In his letter to Holst, he spoke of some bandit prisoners he recently acquired that would be gladly conscripted, if only to earn their freedom afterwards. In exchange, Claude wanted to transfer the Almyran prisoners to House Goneril along with the bandits, citing that his own efforts couldn’t yield any useful information. Since House Goneril dealt with Almyran prisoners more often than the Golden Deer (not that much more, but still a somewhat significant more), they should be able to break the tough nut that Claude couldn’t crack. He also hinted that one of their prisoners might prove useful should that Nader guy show up again, but he had a hunch that Holst wouldn’t catch his drift.

Thirdly, he had to craft more items alongside his usual batch of potions. Claude told himself that the spare robes, gloves, and masks belonged to the Golden Deer, so as the leader of the Golden Deer, he wasn’t really stealing them. At first, he considered embroidering the insignia of Those Who Slither in the Dark on the robes, but gave up that idea when he pricked himself with a needle far too many times. He settled for drawing it on with bright white paint. If someone were to barge into his room while he worked, he would have a lot of explaining to do. Why would the esteemed nephew of Duke Riegan be making an outfit of a supposedly defunct terrorist organization? Claude smirked when he imagined the hypothetical someone’s shocked face, but still resigned himself to working only during the dead of the night.

Fourthly, he had to make sure that everyone else was keyed into his plan. He decided to wait on filling in Lamassu until much later, as she undoubtedly would object to every part of it. But he could tell Shedu and Anqa about his plan without fearing outright rejection. Of course, he expected them to protest loudly, especially since Claude was putting the people they were supposed to be saving in the direct line of danger. The more he explained his plan, the quieter they became. That meeting was going well until Anqa mentioned an important detail that threw a wrench into his plan.

“[I cannot conjure fire like you ask.]” She said with a downward gaze.

“[But you said you knew all the basic Galdrs.]” Claude tried to suppress the frustration in his voice. “[The Kindled Fire Galdr should work.]”

Anqa shook her head. “[The Galdr does not burn, but invigorate. To do what you’re suggesting, I would have to sing the War Flames Galdr, a Galdr only known by sirens. And I- I’m not even a full shaman yet. I’m still in training. I’m sorry I cannot be of more help…]”

Claude felt Shedu’s burning gaze on him, a gaze that was hotter than any fire spell. He shrugged off that silent reprimand with an easy smile. “[Huh. I didn't know you're still only in training. You could have fooled me with how you fought in that battle.]”

“[T-thank you!]” Anqa’s shaking head turned into a bow.

“[Anyway, you’re doing plenty already. So don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something else out.]”

Now that he pondered about it more, Galdrs wouldn’t fit his plan anyway. If someone heard singing right before a spell was casted, their first thought would jump to a harpy shaman, not a mage from Those Who Slither in the Dark. Either Claude figured out a way to prevent his enemies from hearing any song, or a way for Anqa to cast magic without singing. Being the overachiever he was, he decided to take the latter route.

Which was why Claude ended up doing something he never thought he would do. He presented Byleth with a basic black magic tome.

“You know, you never really explained to me how you could use magic.” He said as she gingerly examined the book in her talons. In his own hands was a notebook and a pencil ready for note-taking. “So I thought we might have a little fun with this book today. Don’t worry, I’m not going to let things spiral out of control if you mess up.”

“Can you use magic?” Byleth asked with a raised eyebrow.

“A little bit.” Claude admitted sheepishly. “I really only know the Wind spell by heart. But enough about me, how do you do it? Let’s start with a simple Fire spell.”

Claude showed Byleth the pages that described the Fire spell. Technically, Fodlan black mages didn’t need a tome to cast. They could create their spell circles out of thin air, and just needed knowledge of the right sigils to fill it. That was the key difference between Fodlan magic and Almyran magic. The latter required special objects, like a crystal staff or a magically imbued tome, in order to channel power. Because of this limitation, Almyra didn’t have as many spellcasters as Fodlan, and always lagged behind its enemy in terms of magical prowess.

Byleth apparently didn’t have this kind of restriction. After glancing over the diagrams for a quick minute, she called forth one small spell circle over her left wing talons and one large circle under her feet. The blanks between the foundation sigils were filled with other sigils she summoned with her mind, some of which Claude had never seen before. A fireball then formed in her talons, burning brighter the spell circles that disappeared soon afterwards.

“Uh, could you do that again? More slowly this time? And maybe explain your process out loud?” Claude tapped the notebook with his quill. He caught everything that Byleth just did, but if he wanted to teach Anqa this method, he needed to take thorough notes for her.

“It’s… hard to explain.” Byleth stared at the flickering flames absentmindedly. “I don’t know any of these sigils, but Sothis does. When I open the spell circle, she just fills it in for me.”

“Interesting.” Claude tapped his lips with his quill next. This was the first time he heard of Sothis affecting the real world in a tangible way. “How does she know what sigils to use? She’s not looking at the book, is she? Does she know a lot of them?”

A pause. Then Byleth shook her head. “The diagrams help spark her memories, but she doesn’t refer to them otherwise. She also doesn’t know how she knows them, and as for how many she knows…”

The harpy extinguished her flame in order to flip through more pages of the tome. The book was basically a beginner’s spellbook, covering basic spells like Fire, Wind, and Thunder. To Claude’s surprise, Byleth closed the book and glanced up with a steady gaze.

“She knows all of this. And then some.”

“Does Sothis know more advanced spells too? Like Bolganone, Thoron, and Fimbulvter?”

Byleth nodded. “Although she knows them by different names.”

“What kind of names?”

Foreign sounds spilled out of Byleth’s lips. Claude should have expected to hear an unknown language while dealing with a mysterious girl that somehow had an expansive knowledge of magic, but he still was so shocked, he forgot to write anything down in his notebook. 

His notebook. A spark of inspiration hit him. “Would you be able to write down the names of those spells, as according to Sothis?” Claude handed his note-taking stuff to Byleth.

She took them wordlessly, then stared down at the blank page with an equally blank expression. It just occurred to Claude that he had never seen her write. Did she know how to write? His silent question was answered with the furious skritchings of her pencil and the look of concentration on Byleth’s face. It was obvious that she was guided by Sothis throughout her scrawls, as evident by the numerous corrections and crossing outs she had to make. Several excruciatingly long minutes later, she handed everything back to Claude. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t recognize the symbols Byleth drew, which looked eerily similar to the sigils used in spellcasting. But he did notice that her command of written Fodlanese was not great, judging from her shaky handwriting (claw-writing?) and plethora of misspellings. 

“While I was writing, Sothis remembered something else.” Byleth piped up.

“Oh? What else?”

“She remembered how she remembers the sigils. If that makes sense.” Her dark blue eyes drifted towards the side. “The spell circle is arranged like… sheet music for a song. And the sigils are not only the notes, but the words to a song she knows.”

Well, there was no way he was able to say this without sounding flirtatious, but Claude didn’t care. Not when a breakthrough was on the line. “Would you care to demonstrate then?”

Byleth nodded, then closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, summoning circles of light all around her, then opened her mouth to let loose a haunting melody.

_“With Kindled Fires burning bright,_

_We march onwards towards the fight._

_Crimson haze and orange glows_

_Will bring our foes low.”_

Each sung syllable drew a glowing line, curve, or a dot inside her spell circle, and each finished line finished the sigil. A whole verse took up one ring of the circle, only for her voice to continue onto the next circle. Byleth switched between Fodlanese and the foreign words she spoke earlier, but the changing languages did nothing to diminish her spell. Sparks of light grew into flickering flames that spun around her, as if they were petals carried by a fierce gust of wind. Some of the flames gathered in her outstretched talons, while others continued their flight until the spell circle was completed. The fiery specks that didn’t congregate in their summoner’s claws winked out of existence as quickly as they came into it. The only evidence of her magic was the fireball dancing in between her talons, casting a warm, ethereal light over her grey feathers.

Claude picked up the jaw he didn’t know he dropped. He stared at the fireball for a hot second, and then at the sad blank pages of his notebook. He neglected to write anything down again. And yet, he was sure that Byleth’s dazzling song was burned into his memory, as hot as the flames she conjured. She looked nothing like the demure harpy with a broken wing and a past she couldn’t recall. She sang as gracefully as the best sirens in Almyra, she casted like a warlock with years of experience behind her. She was absolutely breathtaking.

For different reasons than one would think. Claude had to remind himself of those reasons before he got lost in his euphoria. He had never heard of casting black magic with a song before. Black magic needed not only sigils specific to the spell, but also the right timing, order, and accent marks. On top of that, the mage had to constantly change their sigils depending on the situation. And on top of _that_ , if anything was out of place, the spell might go in the wrong direction or explode prematurely or do something else entirely. Those risks were why Claude never bothered learning black magic until now. He learned a little bit during his required classes at the academy, but he found they required too much brainpower on the battlefield when compared to a bow or a sword.

While on the opposite end of the spectrum, white magic was powered by faith, which was something Claude had an even weaker grasp on. Someone only needed to have the right words and belief in the Goddess's holy light, so when they recited their prayers, their faith shines through and manifests as magic. Because of its less stringent rules, white magic could be casted by song, but during a battle, uttering an incantation was more efficient. Also, white magic only dealt with the element of light, not fire or wind or anything like that. 

Byleth’s method effectively combined those two schools of magic, and somehow roped Almyran Galdrs into the mix. Like before, Byleth provided an accurate translation of the Kindled Fire Galdr, or at least the first couple verses of it. Then she spun off into a completely new song while still retaining the original melody. And then she sang parts of it in a different language, but that part was too much for Claude to handle and he was just going to ignore that for now.

“Claude?” Byleth snuffed out the fireball. Without the orange glow, she was back to her normal self. He was able to regather her thoughts and speak as if he wasn’t consumed by them mere seconds ago.

“Byleth, that was incredible. Really.” He beamed. “You are way better than me. At both magic, and singing.”

“The magic was Sothis’s doing.” 

“So the singing was all you then, right?”

Byleth averted her gaze. It seemed like she was trying to look like she was focusing on Sothis, but Claude could tell that she was embarrassed by his compliment by the faint blush on her cheeks.

Back to business. He couldn’t keep getting distracted like this. “I have to ask. Why were you switching between Fodlanese and that other language?”

Byleth’s eyes lingered on the empty space beside her before she snapped her attention back to Claude. “I was just following what Sothis sang. She doesn’t have a real reason why she sang in two languages… She says she could probably sing in one if she wanted to.”

“And both languages could cast the spell…”

“It wasn’t the song that casted it, but Sothis's sigils.” Byleth reminded him. "The song is a way to help her remember what sigils to use and how to put them in."

“Right. Right.” Claude had forgotten that important bit because he was used to how the songs themselves had power in Almyran Galdrs. This twist might actually mess up his plans, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he put it to the test tonight. “Unfortunately, I was so enraptured by your song, I forgot to take notes. Would you mind singing it again? I promise I won’t get so distracted this time.”

“Why are you so interested in the song in the first place?” Byleth asked.

He could tell that was a Sothis question, from how she glanced to the side before asking. “Well, it’s certainly a unique way of casting. If I could figure out the mechanisms behind it, we could revolutionize the current system of magic. Think of how many lives could be changed if spells only needed the right song, instead of the extensive study of sigils.”

“And you picked the Fire spell to experiment with because…?” Her eyes narrowed.

“Hey, don't look at me like that. I promise I’m not going to use it for anything dangerous.” Claude lied. “It’s not like I’m going to get far with it anyway. I don’t actually know enough about magic to unravel this enigma. I’m really only doing this for curiosity's sake. So let’s not worry about my research, and sing your heart out for the hell of it instead.”

The corners of Byleth’s lips tugged upwards. Claude was hopeful that she was going to laugh again, or at least crack a smile, but he had no such luck. She instead obliged him with an encore that was just as wondrous as the first. Claude made sure to glue his nose to his notebook in order to write down the lyrics as she sang them. He noticed that this time she stuck primarily to Fodlanese, which not only was easier to record but harder to distract him from his own thoughts. Whenever she switched to the strange language, his mind filled in the gaps with a particular memory from his childhood.

_“[... Glorious Aennah, spark our fires,_

_Burn away our fears and hearts’ desires._

_As long as the war goes on,_

_Our wings will never tire.]”_

_As she sang, Tarazed picked a fluttering flame out of the air and dropped it into Khalid’s hands. He giggled at the unexpected warmth that didn’t burn his delicate skin. But just as soon as he had gotten used to it, the fire vanished alongside Tarazed’s Galdr._

_“[That’s it?]” He asked._

_“[What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?]” Tarazed replied with a playful frown. “[I didn't write these songs, I just sing them.]”_

_“[But what happened in the war? Did we win?]”_

_“[How would I know? I told you, I didn’t make this song. I doubt that this even depicted a real war in the first place.]” The harpy’s frown deepened, losing all hint of amusement. Despite this, Khalid continued his ramblings._

_“[If I trained as a shaman like you, I bet I could find out all the answers.]”_

_“[Pfft. As if.]” Tarazed regained her light-hearted attitude. “[There are no answers to find out, dear brother. Galdrs aren’t mysteries to be solved, but prayers to the spirits all around us. All these questions prove that you have little faith in the spirits, and the spirits won’t heed someone lacking confidence like you.]”_

_“[I don’t lack confidence!]” Khalid said a little too loudly. “[Here, I’ll prove it to you!]”_

_He snatched Tarazed’s staff out of her talons, noting how easily she relinquished it but not caring in the slightest bit. He then opened his mouth and-_

“Were you singing along just now?”

Claude realized that his mouth hung open for the second time in the past several minutes. He had no idea if he was actually singing, but from Byleth’s stunned face, maybe he was. He just hoped he wasn’t singing in Almyran.

“I was just humming. It’s a catchy song.” He brushed away her question with an easy reply and a smile to match. 

Byleth thankfully accepted his answer at face value. “Did you write down everything you need?”

“Yeah. Think so.” Claude glanced down at his notebook. It was filled with hasty scribbles of words and drawings of sigils that were only legible to him. Translating all this to Almyran would take some time, especially when he had to fit the words to a song, but if it worked, the implications would be huge. Claude could basically turn Byleth’s songs into any kind of Galdr he needed. It was only too bad that Tarazed was right about him. He couldn’t sing Galdrs to their fullest effect, not only because of his lack of faith, but also because of his overwhelmingly mediocre singing voice.

“Good.” Byleth said with a yawn. “That was… I’m tired.”

“You can take a nap if you want. I think I’m done for now. Thanks for everything, Byleth.” Claude’s last sentence reached deaf ears as she laid down in the sand and closed her eyes. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. It seemed like whenever she sang, she became drowsy, like she recited a lullaby to herself. Just another mystery to add to the growing pile of mysteries. At least this one was fairly benign. 

Claude was about to leave her to her nap, then stopped in the doorway. For some reason, he was bothered by how she was just laying out in the open. Maybe he was concerned that he might be seen by the people who dropped off food for Vaida? Yeah, that was it. He returned to Byleth’s side, gently carried her closer to the wall, and then for good measure laid a blanket on top of her. That should do it. With his mind at peace, he departed from the aviary, the Kindled Fire Galdr still thrumming through his entirety.

* * *

“[I don’t think this will work.]” Anqa stared down at Claude’s notebook.

“[You won’t know until you try.]” Claude replied back with confidence to spare. Admittedly, he was just as anxious about this trial as her, but he couldn’t show that. Not when his entire plan hinged on this moment.

“[I-I will try. It’s only…]” Anqa’s voice trailed off as she struggled to find the right words. “[Galdrs are prayers to the spirits of the natural world. They’re not something that you can just make up.]”

“[I didn’t make this up. I got it from a very reputable source.]”

“[From the strange harpy? Byleth?]” Shedu asked. He was perched on a low-hanging branch in order to observe the meeting and to keep an eye out for any intruders. But just because he wasn’t right there beside them didn’t mean that he was disconnected from the conversation. His piercing, golden gaze and stern voice made it hard to forget about him.

“[She is not a reputable source. She isn’t even one of us. We should not be insulting the spirits with pantomimes from a foreigner.]”

Claude sighed loudly. They had every reason to be skeptical when they hadn’t observed her magic first hand, but he still wished that they were a bit more open minded. “[Look, guys, let’s just give this a shot. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll figure something else out. But there’s not a lot of time left before the prisoner transfer, so give this your best shot, ok? No pressure or anything.]”

He winked that last part at Anqa. The harpy shaman-in-training gave him a worried look in return, but ultimately relented. She spread Claude's notebook wide open, brandished her staff, and sang.

The first verses were directly copied from the Kindled Fire Galdr, so Anqa was able to summon the flickering flames with no trouble at all. The main obstacles to Claude's test were the verses he translated from Byleth's song. He tried to keep the core meaning of the song while also fitting the words to the melody and inserting relevant references to the spirits and harpy, but he wasn't an expert songwriter by any means. He watched the drifting sparks of fire with bated breath as Anqa moved onto the unfamiliar verses. Right away, he could tell that she wasn't exactly comfortable with them. She sounded less assertive and more hesitant, tones that couldn't fan the flames into a burning crescendo. Worse, she fumbled over misspoken words on occasion. A fiery spark extinguished itself with each mistake, until Anqa sighed deeply and snuffed out the remaining magical flames herself.

"[I'm sorry, Prince Khalid. I can't…]"

"[Don’t say that. It looked like you were getting somewhere.]" Claude tried to console Anqa as gently as possible. “[Maybe you just weren’t used to the song yet. Could you try again?]”

Anqa nodded meekly and opened her mouth to sing once more. His reassurance must have helped a little bit, because her voice didn’t waver nearly as much this time. But she still suffered from mistakes that halted her spell prematurely. At Claude’s insistence, Anqa tried and tried the new Galdr again, not giving up until she succeeded in a perfect run. However, even with her flawless performance, the flames she conjured never grew any hotter, and only tickled Claude’s palms when he grabbed at one.

“[There must be something else I’m missing…]” Claude mused out loud as the flame in his hand disappeared.

“[Isn’t it obvious? Your Galdr isn’t a true Galdr.]” Shedu chimed in from above. “[Galdrs have been honed by the spirits’ wills over many generations. You can’t hope to replicate one with some interloper’s words.]”

“[If you saw how Byleth sang, you’d understand.]” Claude said bitterly. “[But maybe you’re right. My translation could be off. Anqa, would you be able to sing in the original Fodlanese?]”

“[H-huh?!]” Anqa stammered as Claude flipped the pages of his notebook. “[I’m sorry, Prince Khalid, but you ask too much of me. I have very little knowledge of the Fodlan language. I wouldn’t be able to sing in a strange tongue.]”

“[Come on, you won’t even give it a try?]”

“[Watch yourself, Vulture.]” Shedu growled from above. The bad thing about Shedu’s and Anqa’s engagement is that the former was very protective of the latter. Claude needed to know when to back off, or else risk losing their cooperation in his plan.

“[Prince Khalid, if I may be so bold to suggest something?]” Anqa piped up to dispel the tension. “[Perhaps you can sing the Fodlanese version for me, so I can attempt to copy your words.]”

“[Uh, I dunno about that. My voice definitely isn’t shaman-grade material.]” Claude laughed sheepishly. He also didn’t care to embarrass himself in front of an old friend and his fiance, although that wasn’t an excuse he was going to say out loud.

“[I agree with Anqa. If she is to put all her effort into your plan, you should be willing to do the same.]” Shedu’s concordance only put Claude in a more awkward spot.

“[Alright, fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.]” Claude took the notebook back from Anqa. He cleared his throat to prepare himself, but a stray thought struck his mind. He could cast the Fire spell any old time by copying sigils from textbooks, or even from the diagram he drew while watching Byleth. But while he was here, in the middle of a forest at night with only two other onlookers, could he use the song to help him cast magic? He had no idea how Sothis remembered all those sigils from the song, but he might glean some understanding if he tried it out himself.

To Claude, summoning a spell circle was like stretching out a muscle he hadn’t used in a long time. The circle of light didn’t want to cooperate at first, sputtering and fading away despite his best efforts. Claude forced more magic into his outstretched hand until it finally stayed lit. He then added a few sigils around it to form the foundation of the spell, noting the wide-eyed expressions on the two harpies as he worked. Of course Shedu and Anqa would be on edge while watching Fodlan magic. They had several close calls with it during their large battle almost a week ago. Claude made sure to channel his energy away from them, even though he didn’t expect his spell to be as powerful as a real mage’s. 

Now it was time for the real test. Claude took a deep breath and let loose the familiar song that had been seared into his brain by now.

_“With Kindled Fires burning bright,_

_We march onwards towards the fight._

_Crimson haze and orange glows_

_Will bring our foes low.”_

He tried his best to not focus on his own, shaky voice. He tried to instead emulate the voices of those who could sing so much better than him. He thought of Anqa, whose resonating voice belied her normally timid demeanor, and Tarazed, whose relentless vocal training echoed through the palace hallways of his childhood. He especially thought of Byleth, whose surprising force of will matched the tone of the Galdr. She was spirited, never sat still when it didn’t benefit her, and yet was warm and comforting without further prompting. She was the very model of the fires he sang about and hoped to conjure.

_“Kindled Fires, lend your power._

_Turn our fears to ashen flowers._

_May those born from the flames_

_Fly through our darkest hours.”_

Even though Claude knew this song intimately, from both his past and his present, he still struggled with its quick tempo and dramatic differences of pitches. On top of that, he had to remember the sigils for the Fire spell to the best of his abilities. But somehow, despite his difficulties, his fervor made up for everything he lacked. Dots and lines he ordinarily would have missed filled themselves in, the sigils formed to the rhythm of the song, and all throughout his performance, sparks of flames accumulated into a larger fireball in his hand. On his final note, he launched his fire at a nearby tree. The fireball exploded in a furious blaze and left behind a giant, black scorch mark on the tree trunk.

“[Very intimidating.]” Shedu’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “[Our foes will definitely fear a mage that can’t even set a tree on fire.]”

“[Hey, cut me some slack! I’m making history here!]” Claude exclaimed indignantly. The song may not have been able to bypass the system of magic sigils like he hoped, but it did bring a weak mage like him some success in spellcasting. Besides, maybe it was a good thing that his Fire spell wasn’t all that destructive. He would prefer not to immolate anyone with it, even though Shedu probably thought otherwise.

“[I thought your singing was very good.]” Unlike her fiance, Anqa spoke with complete sincerity. “[It… It might be better if you act as the mage instead of me.]”

“[Mm, let’s not get too hasty.]” Claude replied back. It was true that he was probably better fit for the role, since he can actually cast spells the Fodlan way. But as condescending as Shedu was, he had a good point. His disguise wasn’t going to be convincing if his one spell couldn’t actually hurt people. Well, he might have a second weapon in his arsenal if he can brush up on the Wind spell in time. 

Regardless, a drastic shift in plans in this required a lot of work on everyone’s ends. “[Anqa, are you sure you don’t want to try learning this Fire Galdr? It could be useful, even once this is over.]”

“[I think I’m fine.]” Anqa bowed her head apologetically. “[There’s no guarantee that it will work for me at all… so it may be more worthwhile to train you instead.]”

“[And you have a lot of training ahead of you, Prince Half-breed.]” Shedu remarked. “[It’s surprising that you could even tweet out something recognizable. Princess Tarazed often commented on your singing abilities, or rather, your lack of them.]”

“[She hasn’t heard me sing in forever. What does she know?]” 

Just to show off, Claude called up his spell circle again and muttered the song under his breath. Without his usual emotions behind it, he had to fill in the sigils by himself in order to manage a small flame. Still it was enough to show that he still got it, and enough to elicit a small smile. Unlike the last time he stared this deeply into a fire, he didn’t feel like he was at the mercy of time’s flow. He finally felt like he was moving towards something, no matter how this plan will turn out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I basically neutered TWSITD because I wanted to keep the scope of the story smaller. Hence the lore dump at the beginning of the chapter. That doesn't mean I don't have plans for them though. :D And Dimitri and Edelgard are faring better in this AU yay.
> 
> Admittedly, I had no idea how to tackle the magic system when I sat down to write this. I ended up editing the explanations a lot to try to keep it consistent. But if things are still confusing, let me know and I'll try to explain it better!


	15. A Bloody Throat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude pulls off his plan to free the Almyran prisoners.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a bit more graphic violence than usual, just as a head's up. Sorry if it bothers anyone!

The day of the prisoner transfer arrived without much fanfare, yet Claude still had butterflies in his stomach as he flew off on Vaida’s back. He wasn’t even going to see the caravan off from Cornwall, citing family business that he had to attend to. The family business was, of course, just a smokescreen for his actual plans tonight, just like when he used that excuse a few weeks ago. And just like before, everyone bought into his lies without any further questions.

No, the real reason why he was so nervous was because the odds were stacked against him. Claude did his best to even the playing field by slipping a harmless poison into the caravan’s supplies before he left, so they would become vulnerable after dinner, but that still didn’t change their numerical disadvantage. If the poison didn’t work, and there was a not-insignificant chance that it wouldn’t, then Claude would have to fight against 12 guards of the convoy, including four Golden Deer members, alongside two harpies that were encumbered with masks and heavy robes. He was grateful that he managed to convince the rest of the Golden Deer that they weren’t needed on a simple escort mission. Hilda and Lysithea would have seen right through their disguises and Marianne’s healing and silencing spells would shut down his operations with a few words.

Claude told his new allies that they would strike as soon as the poison had taken effect. The caravan had made camp alongside the road when night fell, and didn’t hesitate to break out food for dinner, including the tampered water. He didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt as everyone drank heartily from their cups. He was doing this to save lives, and if all went smoothly, no one would even get hurt. The poison was a slow-acting sleeping elixir that wouldn’t make anyone drowsy until bedtime. Those that retired to their tents would probably stay there until forcefully awakened, while those on guard duty soon found themselves struggling to stay awake. The first pair on guard duty, Raphael and another soldier by the name of Horatio, succumbed rather quickly to their drowsiness. As soon as their eyelids closed and their mouths emitted soft snoring, Claude turned to Shedu and Anqa to start the mission, only to find that they were still trying to garb themselves.

“[Guys, if you’d let me help, you would be ready to move out by now.]” Claude suppressed the urge to sigh loudly.

“[Apologies, Prince Khalid.]” Anqa whispered through the sleeve of her robe that she somehow slipped over her head.

“[We don’t need help.]” Shedu said hastily, as if to correct Anqa. He fared a bit better than the other harpy, since his head was actually covered by a hood instead of a sleeve. Claude was going to leave him alone and let him suffer, only to spin his head back around when he heard the terrifying sound of fabric ripping. The harpy managed to shred the end of his right sleeve by pulling it over his wing.

“[... Shedu, did you sharpen your feathers before coming here?]” Claude couldn’t hold himself back any longer and sighed the biggest sigh he could muster. He supposed he took for granted Byleth’s ability to put on clothes by herself.

“[A corsair must always be prepared for battle.]” Shedu replied defiantly. 

“[If you follow my plan, there won’t be a battle.]” Claude sighed again. “[Don’t damage those robes any further. I spent a lot of time on them, and for good reason.]”

He went over to Shedu’s side and helped him with his sleeves, despite the harpy’s protests. There was no way he was going to patch up the tear completely, not with the limited time and supplies he had. All he could do was yank the damaged end off. The sleeve was thankfully still long enough to cover Shedu’s wing talons at rest, but if he swung his wing too quickly, someone attentive might catch a glimpse of feathers or scaly talons.

“[Do human mages wear clothes like these all the time?]” Anqa asked while Claude helped her out of her mess. 

“[They wear something like this. Only less dark, and without a hood or mask.]”

“[It’s a wonder that your mages are so fearsome on the battlefield when they have to weigh themselves down with so much clothing.]” Now that Anqa had her mask on, her voice was a lot more muffled and a lot less melodious. Claude was relieved that the masks he crafted were able to mute her enough. She still would be able to sing her Galdrs, and Claude was in fact counting on it, but bystanders wouldn’t really recognize her words as songs unless they were right next to her. 

“[Fodlan mages, like all soldiers, get used to a lot of things.]” Claude shrugged. “[Are you guys good yet? The poison won’t last forever, you know.]”

Claude was answered with nods from two masked figures. Even from up close, there was nothing about their silhouettes to suggest they were harpies. He supposed that he had Byleth to thank for that idea, or at least the base of it. Deciding to dress up like Those Who Slither in the Dark was most definitely Claude’s idea. He needed someone to take the fall for the caravan attack, and it was really fortuitous that Lorenz’s letter came when it did. Not only did they have a plausible motivation for this ambush, being a fiercely xenophobic group, they also operated so radically different than Claude and were unquestionably villianous. No one would dare to accuse Claude of staging an attack on his own men, not when witnesses could point to a much more believable suspect.

Now it was a matter of getting them to the camp, and to step one of the breakout. If Claude wasn’t a cautious man, he would have taken the slumbering guards as an invitation to march forward. But Claude needed to foolproof every part of his plan, including seemingly simple ones. He procured a large glass bottle of fluid from his bag, dropped a small crystal inside of it, shook it up, and then opened its top. Immediately, a white haze spewed from its neck. It was a harmless smoke, but it was good for concealing their movements in case someone wasn’t sleeping as soundly as he would’ve liked. As an extra precaution, he nodded towards Anqa, who began singing a quick-tempoed song as quietly as she could. The winds around them stirred into a swift breeze that carried the smoke into the camp and blanketed it into obscurity. Now with the additional layer of protection on their side, Claude motioned them to continue on.

The caravan consisted of three wagons for the prisoners, three wagons for everyone that guarded them, and one wagon for the Almyran wyverns. Claude had the unruly beasts transferred to House Goneril alongside their masters for similar reasons. They resisted any attempt to be tamed, even when handled by wyvern experts like Claude himself. Right now, however, the three of them seemed perfectly calm as they lifted their heads to watch the intruders. Claude was tempted to go over there and free them first, but they were unfortunately not his first or even second priority. He had plans for them later, plans that required their presence.

So instead, the ‘dark mages’ snuck past the sleeping men and towards the wagon that contained their main targets. The doors were sealed shut behind a padlock and chains, but they couldn’t stand up to the master key Claude brought along. He quietly opened up the carriage to reveal a group of confused Almyran humans. Their bodies tensed when they were greeted by the sight of strange, beaked masks, but eased up when Claude spoke.

“[Relax. It’s just Khalid, Shedu, and Anqa. We’re here to rescue you.]”

“[What of Lady Lamassu? Is she safe?]” An Almyran by the name of Hafiz whispered back. He was the only survivor out of Lamassu’s retinue, so it was natural for him to be concerned for her, especially when she was kept in another wagon.

“[And what about our wyverns?]” Another Almyran, named Suad, piped up.

“[Do you have weapons for us? Those cowards must pay for what they’ve done!]” The last human, Rasima, hissed under her breath. 

“[We’re getting Lamassu out next. Your wyverns will be accounted for. And you’re not going to hurt the guards on my watch. Your job is to get out of here, first and foremost.]”

“[You had us sit by idly, enduring torture and humiliation, and not even grant us the opportunity to claim the blood we are owed?]” Rasima’s voice was getting dangerously loud. Claude took off his mask so she could take in his serious expression.

“[If you want revenge, then take it out on me. I’m the one that imprisoned you in the first place.]”

When Claude’s retort didn’t ease the tension, Shedu spoke up in a commanding voice. “[Rasima, I would do as Prince Khalid says.]”

“[As you wish, Lord Shedu.]” Rasima muttered. The other two men followed suit with their own affirmations.

It was nice that they heeded the orders of a full-blooded harpy, if not the orders of their prince. Since he didn’t need to show his face anymore, Claude put his mask back and motioned for Anqa to slice the metal ties off of them with one of Shedu’s feather-dagger. He would have liked to stay behind to make sure the Almyrans cooperated, but time was of the essence. They had a better chance of succeeding if they split up and worked on freeing multiple prisoners at once.

“[When you’re free, run towards that hill in the distance.]” Claude jerked his head in said direction. “[Vaida- I mean, my wyvern is hiding behind it. Wait with her until we come back or until the moon starts its descent.]’

“[What should we do if you don’t return?]” Suad asked while rubbing his unbound wrists.

“[Vaida will take you to a safe place. But we’ll make every effort to show up on time.]”

Claude didn’t have anymore time for questions, especially ones that had somber answers. He left Anqa with the human Almyrans while he and Shedu proceeded to the wagon next to it. This one had considerably more locks, but again, they were all opened up by his master key. It should be alarming to Claude that there were magical items out there that could bypass the Golden Deer’s security so easily, but that wasn’t considering the lengths Claude went through to procure this trinket. 

Having fingers in less-than-honest markets paid off during times like these. The chains fell away with gentle clanking sounds as Claude wrested this door open. Golden eyes shone with fury in the darkness, and they did not abate even as Claude spoke.

Partially because he couldn’t help but rub the situation into her face. “[Guess who’s here to save you?]”

“[Hm, I can’t possibly tell with those ridiculous masks.]” Lamassu rolled her eyes. “[Seriously, do you have to go that far?]”

“[I’m afraid that my silver tongue can’t solve every problem. Especially ones caused by a stubborn hen like you.]”

“[Khalid, Lamassu, that’s enough.]” Shedu barked. He climbed into the wagon to cut away Lamassu’s cuffs. While he was working on that, Claude shot a glance at the still figures of the guards, just to make sure they were still snoozing away. He let out a sigh of relief under his mask when he saw that they were. He also saw that Anqa had finished freeing all the Almyran prisoners, and they made their way towards Lamassu’s wagon instead of escaping like he had advised.

“[Thank you, dear brother.]” Lamassu’s voice was considerably softer towards Shedu while she clambered out of the wagon. He only gave a grunt in return, although if Claude had to bet, he was probably smiling under that mask.

“[Lady Lamassu!]” Hafiz ran up to her and knelt down on one knee in front of her. “[I am glad to see you safe. Please allow me to attend to you!]”

“[At ease. I have no need for attending at the moment.]” She was even soft towards her soldier. Hafiz didn’t fully accept her response, and fussed over her a little more. 

Claude didn’t really have time for this. He cleared his throat to interrupt Hafiz’s insistent fretting. “[Lamassu, I need you to take the other Almyrans and wait for us on the other side of the hill.]” 

Too bad her softness didn’t last long. “[Excuse me?!]” She growled. Her feathers stood at their ends to make her battered frame seem larger. “[You said that I would get my revenge when I was freed!]”

“[I did say that. But I didn’t say you would get your revenge the moment you were freed.]” Claude shook his head. “[It’s much too dangerous right now. Unless you don’t mind facing 12 guards without weapons.]”

“[I will be Lady Lamassu’s weapon!]” Hafiz chimed in.

“[As well as I and Suad. Provided that Lord Shedu gives the orders.]” Rasima interjected with a sidelong glance towards her commander.

“[Even with you three, we’re still badly outnumbered.]” Claude sighed. He actually didn’t intend Lamassu to get any sort of revenge against her tormentors. He just said those kinds of things to get her through her ordeal. But admitting to his lies now would just cause her to turn on him, and if she turned, then so would Shedu, Anqa, and the other Almyrans. Claude needed the escapees to escape unharmed, and he still needed the two harpies to cooperate with him.

So he really needed to put an end to this conversation right now. Luckily, Shedu helped him achieve that. “[I will not allow you two to engage. Anqa and I still have to aid Prince Half-breed in his foolish plan. Without disguises, it is too dangerous for the rest of you to do the same.]”

“[And you scolded me for bringing them along on my Reclamation Trial.]” She honed her piercing golden gaze back at Claude. She at least wasn’t that angry with him anymore.

“[This isn’t nearly as dangerous as your Trial.]” Claude replied. “[Everything is under control so far. Please don’t mess this up for me again.]”

“[Yeah, wouldn’t that be a shame? If I had a fancy mask and robes like you, I would be willing to help, just so my brother and future sister-in-law don’t die by your hands.]”

“[Trust me, Lamassu, you don’t want to wear this mask.]” Shedu muttered.

“[Hmph. I’ll take your word for it.]” Lamassu rolled her eyes at her brother before turning them back to Claude. “[Don’t endanger them anymore than I have, Flightless One. If you don’t return before long, then I’m Reclaiming you back to Almyra, your schemes be damned.]”

She took off in a flurry of feathers before Claude could retort with an equally witty answer. The human Almyrans ran off to follow her dark shadow in the night sky. Now that their main objective was achieved, all that was left were some finishing touches. Claude ordered Shedu and Anqa to tamper with the wyverns’ bindings while leaving them intact. They were puzzled by his strange orders, but did what he asked anyway. Meanwhile, he grabbed some bones from his bag and threw them into the empty wagons. It wouldn’t do to just release the Almyrans, as his Golden Deer would just be tasked to hunt them down again. He had to fake their deaths, like he had hoped and failed to do a week earlier. The evidence he tossed inside were cow and pig bones, courtesy of Vaida and Byleth. They of course didn't look much like human or harpy bones right now, but they would be indistinguishable once he was done with them.

After he was done setting the bones down, he locked the doors with his master key. Claude probably should have left it at that and proceeded to the final part of his plan, but his curiosity didn’t allow for loose ends. He walked up to the third prisoner wagon and opened it up with his master key. 

The force of his opening awakened the six bandits huddled inside. He recognized them as the brigands from Acheron, men who once followed Myson but either surrendered or were captured during the Golden Deer’s routing. But they didn’t recognize him at all, nor the mask he wore. Which was exactly the kind of information he was looking for.

“Wh-who are you?!” One of the bandits shouted. He didn’t care to keep his volume down, unlike the Almyrans. Claude couldn’t help but flinch at how loud he was. He was liable to wake up the camp at this rate.

“You worked under Myson.” Claude said in a husky tone. Having spent a considerable amount of time interrogating them, he had to make sure they didn’t recognize his voice.

“Yeah? What’s it to you?”

“Did he not speak of his involvement with us?”

All the bandits shook their heads. “Never heard a peep about ‘us’. Who are you guys anyway?” Another man asked.

So Myson kept his ties to Those Who Slither in the Dark a secret from even his bandit underlings. Claude figured that, since he never learned anything about that organization from them. Why was that the case though? Was it because Those Who Slither in the Dark had such a nasty reputation that it would drive even bandits away, or did Myson have a poor relationship with them when he formed his raiding group? 

He wasn’t going to find out any more answers from these guys. “If that man did not deign to share anything to you, then neither shall I. You are worthless to me.” 

Claude did his best to sound intimidating by channelling his dark side. Acting like an evil dark mage was actually kind of fun, but he couldn’t relish in it for too long. The longer he spoke, the more likely he might accidentally reveal something. He moved to close the door, but a third person spoke up urgently.

“H-hey! Not so fast! You gotta get us out of here!”

“Yeah! We’re not worthless! We can help you kill all these bastards!”

A chill went up Claude’s spine. He almost spat back something angrily, but then reminded himself that a dark mage was supposed to be cool and unflappable. So instead of losing his temper, Claude slammed the door shut with a resounding thud. The bandits yelped from the inside of the carriage. He did his best to ignore their cries as he pushed his key into the locks. To his surprise, the golden handle snapped cleanly in half as he turned it. He gave the padlocks a rattle and found that they were still intact, just unopenable for the time being. 

As long as the wagon remained sealed, Claude could care less about what happened to the bandits. With their purpose done, he could now wash his hands off this whole mess. He held up his literal hands, calling forth glowing circles and sigils. Claude had practiced the Fire spell many times over, using Byleth’s Galdr as an aid. Thanks to his training, he could fill in the right sigils without needing to sing the song, but he still did so anyway underneath his mask. He felt like the fire in his heart burned hotter when he had a familiar tune on his lips. With a flick of his wrist, he finished his song and launched the fireball at one of the empty wagons.

It exploded, rocking the compartment enough so that its shakes were as loud as the impact. Flames crawled across its wooden surface, charring an entire corner, before it died down. Claude frowned at how quickly it was extinguished. Apparently, all his training still didn’t make up for his deficiencies. To make things worse, the explosion must have woken up the guards, judging from groggy shouts obscured by the smoke. He held up a hand to cast again, only to hesitate when another song floated through the haze. Glittering sparks hovered around him, igniting into flames that turned his black robes orange with their ethereal glow. Although they didn’t touch him, their warmth energized the magic in his veins, powering his spells past his normal limits. He casted Fire again, Byleth’s song resonating louder than it ever did before, and the blazing orb consumed the entire wagon. Claude directed his spell circles at the other empty wagons, which went up in flames as well.

The two fires roared like a lion and turned the camp into a blisteringly hot oven. The guards scrambled over to the blaze to put them out, but magical fires were not easily extinguished. And as if there weren’t enough chaos already, the wyverns panicked and fought against their chains with screeches and frantic stomping. Claude sprinted to their sides, only because that was where he last saw Shedu and Anqa. He found them looking completely befuddled but otherwise in good health.

“[Alright. We’re done here. Let’s go.]”

“[But what about the wyverns?]” Anqa shot them a concerned look.

“[They’ll be fine! We won’t be if we stick around!]”

His point was proven by a particularly loud scream from one of the frightened reptilians. Just as they were about to leave, Shedu tackled the other two to the ground to save them from an arrow that flew overhead. Instead of striking one of them, the arrow glanced off a wyvern’s leg. Its tip only chipped a scale, but the attack still enraged the wyvern. It bellowed even louder and used its wrath to rip its chains out of the boards. Now that it was free, it ravaged the wagon that once held it captive with an onslaught of talons and fangs, freeing its fellow prisoners in the process. The camp wasn’t big enough for three rampaging wyverns, despite the guards’ best efforts to rein them in. None of them could get close enough to chain them back down, which meant that Claude, Shedu, and Anqa were safe as long as they remained in the wyverns’ shadows.

But not for long. One wyvern flew into the (non-burning) wagon that held the bandits, knocking it over. Claude’s heart quickened when he saw shadows in the smoke emerging from the fallen wagon. The impact must have loosened the doors enough to free the prisoners. That certainly wasn’t part of his plan, but he could make it work. In fact, the escaped bandits might make their own escape easier to accomplish. Already, most of the caravan guards redirected their attention in order to deal with the escapees.

“[Run!]” He hissed to Shedu and Anqa. The three of them got back on their feet and dashed away from the fire, only to run into a purple haired nobleman with spell circles already hovering over his hands.

“What the- Who are you?!” Lorenz exclaimed.

Claude bit back a smarmy response and instead started up his own spell circles. He knew he was foolish to engage in a magical duel against Lorenz, but he had no choice. He had to buy the ones who weren’t used to fleeing on foot some extra time while keeping up what little appearances they had left.

He conjured a fireball and flung it at Lorenz at the same time Lorenz aimed his own Fire spell. When the two fiery orbs met, Lorenz’s fireball overpowered Claude’s and hurtled right at him. He had to duck to the side to avoid it, as well as several arrows. It looked like Lorenz wasn’t alone, but the question now was who was firing those arrows? And he thought for sure that Anqa’s Galdr would boost his power enough to match Lorenz's level. Sadly that wasn’t the case. Maybe he should try his Wind spell? As he prepared to cast again, the ground shook from the approaching footsteps of a giant. Raphael suddenly appeared out of the fog and barreled towards him like a charging ox, forcing Claude to fire off a half-formed gust of wind in order to dodge. 

You know what? Screw magic. Continuing to pretend that he was a dark mage was going to get him killed at this rate. Claude pulled out the sword that had been strapped to his waist all this time and swung it to keep Raphael from getting any closer. He successfully repelled the brawler with each slash, but his comparatively better swordplay didn’t stop the incoming barrage of arrows and magic. Most of them missed, thanks to the fog, but some of the projectiles met their mark. One arrow whizzed over his head, piercing his pointed hood and pinning it back to reveal his tousled black hair. Another fireball singed his robes. He stamped out the fire so as to not keep a beacon of light on himself, only for the ground to shake again. This time, it was the looming shadow of a wyvern that caused the mini quake. The wyvern snapped at whatever humans it could find, giving Claude time to take cover behind the still-smouldering remains of a wagon. With this brief moment of repose, he tried to find where Anqa and Shedu ran off to.

A high-pitched scream provided the whereabouts of at least one harpy. Claude rushed to the scene and found a bandit looming over Anqa. He didn’t know if the brigand simply bumped into her while they stumbled through the fog or he purposefully attacked her. Whatever the case may be, he brandished his sword with the intent to skewer it through him.

Before he could lay any hands on the bandit, however, a black blur came out of nowhere and tackled the offending human to the ground. Shedu’s sharp talons dug into his back, causing the bandit to scream. The harpy murmured something intelligible as he plunged his sharpened wing feathers into the bandit’s neck. Once the screams died down and blood pooled around Shedu’s perch, Claude realized that Shedu had ripped off his robes in order to save Anqa. It wasn’t even much of a comfort that Shedu had at least kept his mask on.

“[Shedu!!]” Anqa raced over and embraced her fiance in a bone crushing hug. It sounded like she was about to cry. Shedu returned the hug, forming a feathery mass that stood motionless despite the battle erupting all around them.

Claude hated to break up the tender moment, but they were still in danger. He coughed to catch their attention. “[Shedu, Anqa, change of plans. You can take your robes off and fly away. Just make sure not to leave the evidence behind.]”

“[What about you?]” Shedu asked with a surprisingly anxious tone.

“[I’m going to make sure you guys can get out of here in one piece.]”

“[And afterwards? You can’t fly!]” Now it was Anqa’s turn to be worried.

“[Don’t worry, I have a plan for that too. Now go! Get out of here!]”

Anqa and Shedu hesitated, as if they didn’t quite buy Claude’s hasty explanation, but he had already turned his back towards them. A flap of feathery wings alerted him to their takeoff. Like he predicted, he wasn’t the only one to notice someone (or something) taking flight. Distant shouts indicated that Leonie had spotted a brief disturbance of the smoke that she assumed to be a renegade wyvern, and she already was aiming at it. 

Not if Claude had anything to say about it. He casted Fire in her general direction. Leonie’s yelps told him that his spell struck true, but it didn’t actually hurt her a lot. He supposed that the Kindled Fire Galdr’s effects were already wearing off. Before he could try again, Leonie’s arrow flew at him and he had to hide behind a wagon to avoid it. While he caught his breath, the swirl of disrupted fog alerted him to another foe. He whirled around just in time to get whacked in the face by Ignatz’s sword.

It was more like the sword hit the beak of his mask, causing it to twist and obscure his vision, but at least his head was still on his neck. Claude stumbled into the charred wood behind him, with one hand trying to straighten his mask and the other fumbling for his dropped sword. When he managed to adjust his mask enough to see clearly again, he noticed that his right lens had cracked. His half-distorted vision made Ignatz very scary, and the sword in his hands even scarier. But what really scared Claude the most, out of everything, was the fact that the gentle painter snuck up on him so suddenly. He knew that Ignatz had assassin training during their academy years, but he rarely put it to any use. Claude supposed he wasn’t the only one brushing up on old skills recently.

“Heh…” Claude ended up laughing at that thought. It was the only thing he could do when taken by surprise.

“What’s so funny?” Ignatz asked with none of his usual meekness. The tip of his sword was at Claude’s neck, forcing him to think carefully about his reply.

“It’s just… I’d never thought…”

“Never thought that someone like me could take you down? I had training at the Leicester Officer’s Academy like the rest of my friends. I’m not someone to be taken lightly. So surrender, or else I have to resort to drastic measures.”

Ignatz took a step closer, his blade now less than an inch away from skin. Claude didn’t want to give up, but what could he do? He knew how to push Ignatz’s buttons, but doing so, in combination with his exposed hair, might reveal his identity. He could try to attack back, but without his sword, all he could use was his pitiful magic spells that might just earn him a sliced throat. And there was nowhere to run with the burnt ruins of a carriage at his back.

"Would you believe me if I said that I don't want to hurt you?" Claude rasped out. He decided to try his luck with words anyway.

"That… that still doesn't change what you've done. Who you killed." Ignatz's sword still stood tall and at Claude's throat. "They were Almyran raiders, but they were people too! Justice by arson isn't justice at all!"

Claude remained mute and motionless. He couldn't agree with him, couldn't admit the truth. He wanted to, with every fiber of his being, but doing so would render a whole week's worth of schemes for naught. Such was the way of a half-breed that cared too much for his people, both Almyran and Fodlanese.

His silence did nothing to dissuade Ignatz. "I'm asking you one more time to surrender. Hold up your hands."

Claude remained mute and motionless, stalling for time to come up with a new plan. Unfortunately for him, his time was already up long ago. His decision was made for him when a stray arrow pierced through Claude’s shoulder. The force knocked him into Ignatz’s sword. Claude tried to twist himself away from the razor-sharp edge while Ignatz pulled his weapon away, but he still felt warm blood bubbling up his windpipe with each breath.

“No! I didn’t mean-” Ignatz stammered. Claude caught a brief glimpse of conflict on his face. He was conflicted on whether he executed an enemy that set fire to their camp, or accidentally killed an unarmed man. And honestly, Claude was conflicted too. He didn’t want to hurt one of his Golden Deer, but as blood dripped from his throat and shoulder, that same blood also called for reparation. While Ignatz was paralyzed with indecision, Claude reached for his fallen sword, turned his body so that his opponent wouldn’t see his chest, and lashed out.

Steel connected with flesh. As Claude stained Ignatz’s chest red, his Crest flashed and drank in the spilled life force. The gash on his neck ceased its bleeding while his shoulder no longer burned with pain. Now that he was feeling much better, he could really take a look at Ignatz’s agonized and astonished face. He made sure not to hit anything vital, but that expression was something that he never wanted to lay eyes on. And yet, he couldn’t peel away from him. As the leader of the Golden Deer, he wanted to apologize, do something for Ignatz, but he wasn’t his beloved leader right now. He was an enemy who should really be getting the hell out of here.

“Ignatz!” Raphael shouted from behind. 

“What happened?!” A higher-pitched voice belonging to Leonie rang out.

If those sounds weren’t enough to get his legs moving, then the clamber of running footsteps did. Claude sprinted away from the scene before the backup arrived, not caring if he was running into more danger. He just wanted to get away from Ignatz’s forlorn gaze. His legs carried him towards a wyvern, who seemed fatigued from all the fighting, which made it easier for Claude to jump onto its back. The wyvern emitted a startled yowl at the strange human, but its muscles immediately relaxed when Claude uttered some Almyran commands into its ear.

“[Alright, let’s play follow the leader. Up and at ‘em!]” He whispered loudly, and dug his feet into its sides for good measure. The wyvern let out an ear-splitting roar and took off. Its cry attracted its fellow wyverns, who spiraled into the night sky together, leaving behind a smoky and bloody mess in their wake.

The flight back to the Almyrans took only a few minutes, which was good because Claude was sure he was going to fall off if he had to ride bareback any longer. He dismounted right next to everyone, then stumbled from his jellified legs. Vaida ambled over to catch him mid-fall with her snout.

“[By the sky spirit, you look terrible.]” Lamassu remarked. “[Perhaps you trained your friends too well.]”

“[Haha. I’m laughing. Really.]” Claude ripped off his mask so he could breathe in the fresh, night air for the first time in seemingly forever. As he did so, a brisk breeze chilled his throat, still wet with blood. Apparently the wound reopened, either due to his rough flight or his hastiness in taking off his mask.

But he couldn’t worry about that, not when there was a more obvious injury that needed attention. “[Hey, could you help me get this arrow out?]” He asked Lamassu.

She was all too happy to oblige. Claude clenched his teeth to turn his yell into a guttural gasp for pain. The arrow’s removal didn’t trigger his Crest, so he would have to recover the old-fashioned way.

Or not. “[Prince Khalid! You’re gravely wounded!]” Anqa exclaimed. Her cries of concern immediately morphed into the wonderous Heavenly Light Galdr. Glowing pinpricks of light wrapped around his entirety and eventually settled down on his throat and shoulder. 

“[Thank you.]” He inhaled again, noting dulled pain this time. Now that his injury wasn’t clouding his vision, his green eyes took in the sight of the assembled Almyrans. They were all alive and relatively unharmed, even the wyverns that rejoined their riders. Claude was the only one that sustained any serious injuries, and they healed relatively quickly. He was sure that his shoulder might ache for a few days, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t get over. Ignatz on the other hand…

He chased that ghastly image out of his head. “[We made it. Hurray for us.]”

“[Yes. Hurray.]” Lamassu didn’t sound as enthusiastic as he had hoped. “[I hope you didn’t forget the reason why I came to Fodlan. I can’t go back without Reclaiming something. And unlike someone I know, I can’t spend six years on my Trial either.]”

“[Not to mention that Lady Lamassu’s sash is still missing.]” Hafiz spoke up.

“[I actually got you covered on both fronts. Let’s see…]”

Claude wrestled off the bag that had been tormenting him with its weight throughout the entire mission. Most of the junk in here were spare potions, poisons, and other tricks, just in case. But in a separate, hidden compartment, he pulled out a brightly colored sash in one hand and a parcel of letters in the other.

Lamassu took the sash with grateful silence and regarded the letters with brimming curiosity. “[What’s this?]”

“[Letters to the king and queen of Almyra. Well, some of them are. The other letters will help you get you out Fodlan.]”

“[So someone’s finally gotten homesick.]” Lamassu muttered in a barely perceptible tone before saying her next thoughts louder. “[How will these letters help us get out of here? I breached Fodlan’s Locket once, and I plan to breach it again, this time from the other side.]”

“[Good luck with that.]” Claude said dryly. “[If you don’t feel like going on a suicide mission with less men than before, then take this route northward. It’ll bring you to a quaint little region called Kupala.]”

“[Kupala? I thought that place didn’t accept harpies anymore.]” Shedu piped up.

“[Technically, they still don’t. But there’s a village marked on this map that’s often overlooked by Margravate Edmund. The village elder is a nice lady by the name of Jasmine. This letter,]” Claude tapped on one of the papers sealed with his feathers, “[is a letter of introduction. Once she sees that, or really, my feather, she’ll help you sneak across the border.]”

“[You’re a never ending fountain of secrets, Flightless One. You know that, right?]” Lamassu tied her sash around her torso, then tucked the letters in it.

“[I aim to please.]” Claude gave her a cockeyed smile. “[But seriously, don’t go spreading the village or Jasmine’s name around to others, ok? Otherwise they won’t be there the next time someone needs it.]”

“[Are you implying that you told others about this place?]” Lamassu raised an eyebrow.

“[Oh! Are you talking about Byleth?]” Anqa asked eagerly.

“[Who’s Byleth?]”

“[Like you said, I’m a fountain of secrets. You can’t drain me so quickly. Ask Shedu and Anqa about it later.]” Claude winked at Lamassu, who made a scornful noise in return.

“[You’re absolutely infuriating, Prince Half-breed. It makes me reconsider my earlier promise.]”

Now it was Shedu’s turn to sound surprised. “[Lamassu, what promise did you make to the Wing Thief?]”

“[Argh! Nevermind what I just said. Let’s get out of here, before those foolish humans find us.]”

Claude’s lips curved into a faint smile as the Almyran prepared for departure. This was probably the last time he was going to see them for a while, yet he didn’t feel so sad. They turned his life upside-down since they first showed up, and the fact they were leaving meant that he succeeded in a very unlikely mission. Still, he might miss them a little bit. He would miss Lamassu’s banter, Anqa’s singing, and Shedu’s… general support. 

This wasn’t even a permanent goodbye. He was going to return to Almyra someday. And who knows? Maybe they won’t meet as enemies next time. That was a nice thought, one that Claude clung to like a burr to sheep’s wool. 

“[Oh, I didn’t write a letter for him, but tell Nader that I said hi.]” He mentioned Lamassu and Shedu.

“[Tell my father that yourself.]” Lamassu sneered. “[It’ll give you a reason to come back quicker.]”

“[But I already have a reason to return. I need to finish my Trial in time for Shedu’s and Anqa’s wedding!]”

“[I doubt that’ll happen.]” Shedu murmured under his breath. 

His retort was overridden by a beaming smile and exuberant words from Anqa. “[Oh, we would be honored if you could come! And by then, Lamassu will have reached the rank of Barbarossa, so we will have more to celebrate!]”

“[I’ll be a Barbarossa way before the Flightless One comes back.]” Lamassu scoffed before the frown faded away. “[Still, I suppose another celebratory feast wouldn’t be so bad.]”

“[Mmm, I hadn’t had an Almyran feast in so long. I’m going to hold you to that!]”

Claude’s last words were muffled by the chorus of flapping wings. As the Almyrans took to the skies, both on wyvern back and with feathered wings, he lifted a hand to wave them goodbye. He doubted that they paid much attention to the lonely figure on the ground, but he had a hunch that they received his farewells anyway. The vivacious melody of Anqa’s Swift Winds Galdr not only whipped up a tailwind to carry everyone home, but also lifted Claude’s feelings into the skies until it soared alongside with them.

_“[In sacred skies,_

_Dhanab calls us to fly._

_So fly we must, no matter how or why._

_In endless blue,_

_Our promise holds true._

_We'll share the skies, between me and you.]”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI Ignatz is still alive, just badly wounded. I can't have Claude succeed completely after all. :P


	16. A Huntress of Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hilda plots with friends. Ignatz tries to paint but gets interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has some unconventional POVs because I wanted to explore scenes I couldn't explore otherwise. It's also a bit of a filler chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway. :)
> 
> Also I wanted to mention that if anyone wanted to ask me questions about this fic (or in general lol), I have a [tumblr](https://the-tactician-magician.tumblr.com/)!

“Do you think that Claude is hiding something?”

Lysithea’s plate of sweet pastries clattered on the table as she posed that question to two other Golden Deer girls. Hilda had a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausages in front of her while Marianne chose to dine on a simple dish of fresh fruits. Both of them looked up from their meals to regard her with curious expressions.

“What brought this up?” Hilda asked.

“Lots of things, but this past week was especially suspicious.” Lysithea took a bite out of a pastry before continuing on. She needed all the sugar she could get if she was going to gossip about their esteemed leader behind his back.

“He’s always been secretive about his work, but ever since we captured the Almyrans, he somehow became even more secretive. He refuses to share  _ anything _ with us, he disappears from the estate at inopportune times, and he’s been burning the midnight oil more often than not.”

“That’s not really that strange for Claude though.” Hilda waved a fork in Lysithea's general direction. “He was like that during the year at the academy too.”

“I know. But I was talking to some of the staff, and his unusual inclinations apparently started before the Almyran mission. Like, he’s always getting extra food from the kitchen and he’s spending a lot of time in the wyvern aviary.”

“Hm. Now that you mention it, I heard Claude inside his wyvern’s roost a couple times.” Hilda went from waving her fork to tapping it on her plate. “The last time was a few days ago. I actually heard him singing some kind of poem, I think.”

“Singing?” Marianne chimed in quietly. She had been silent throughout the entire conversation so it surprised the two other girls to hear her speak.

“Yeah! He actually has a decent singing voice. Definitely higher-pitched than I would’ve imagined, too.” Hilda exclaimed. “And I couldn’t really make out what he said the other times, but he was quite the chatterbox. Anyway, wasn’t Claude always this attached to his wyvern? I remembered that he always spent extra time with her, both at the academy and here.”

Marianne nodded thoughtfully, but didn’t contribute anything else. Hilda stared at the blue-haired noblewoman for a second or two, trying to decipher the hidden meaning behind her wistful gaze. Marianne knew about Claude’s wyvern the most after Claude himself, being the only other person that could get close to her. So if anyone had any juicy information to share, it would be Marianne. Unfortunately for Hilda, she remained mum on the subject. And it didn’t look like she stayed silent out of a lack of anything to divulge…

“I actually stumbled upon Claude sweet-talking to Vaida once.” Lysithea had a faint smile on her face as she reminisced about that memory. “He bribed me with cake to keep that moment a secret.”

“Aaaand you just spilled that secret to us?” Hilda raised an eyebrow.

“Well, it was a long time ago! I bet Claude forgot about it by now, so he wouldn’t care.” Lysithea huffed and crossed her arms. “Besides, it’s actually relevant to this current discussion. If he’s hiding something dangerous, we need to find out what it is before it’s too late!”

“Something dangerous, huh…?” Marianne mused out loud.

“Marianne, do you know something?” Hilda leaned in a little closer. Not to pressure her or anything, but because her friend could be so soft-spoken sometimes. “You have to have some dirt on Claude and his wyvern, seeing as you take care of all the animals around here.”

“Well, uh…” Marianne gazed down at her half-finished plate of fruit. “I think… um… It’s not really my place to say… but…”

Her dark brown eyes flickered upwards and met two eager pairs of pink eyes for just a second. Their wordless inquiry for Marianne’s insight broke her resolve. “... I think Vaida might be having a baby.”

“What?!” Hilda screamed as she slammed her hands on the table. The sudden jolt caused some of Lysithea’s juice to splash on the table, but the young mage was too startled to care.

“... But wait, don’t wyverns lay eggs?” Hilda calmed herself down with her own question. She couldn’t believe that she overlooked that fact, considering as her family raised their own line of military wyverns.

“Yes. They do.” Marianne replied in her usual quiet voice, as if her own news didn’t shock her. “I guess I should say that Vaida might be expecting an egg. Wyverns don’t, uh, lay them immediately. They have to be taken care of lots before they lay their egg.”

“Ah. That makes more sense.”

“So if Claude’s wyvern is expecting an egg, why would he keep that a secret?” Lysithea wondered. “I mean, it’s not like I’m into baby animals or anything, but a baby wyvern would certainly be exciting.”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because Claude doesn’t want us fretting over him or his wyvern.” Hilda answered. “He uses her to fly everywhere, from private trips to dangerous missions. He knew we would ground him if we knew what’s up. I can’t believe he would be so heartless!”

“Uh, I don’t think that Claude is that heartless.” Marianne interjected. “Wyverns fly a lot normally, so he probably isn’t hurting her...”

“I wasn’t talking about the wyvern! Although, it’s nice to know that he isn’t hurting her.” Hilda flashed her friend a smile. “I was lamenting about how Claude’s so heartless to us! Does he really believe that we don’t deserve to know about the baby wyvern until it’s actually here? That's happy news to be shared, not hidden!”

“I agree with you.” Lysithea concurred after swallowing down a mouthful of pastries. “At the very least, it would set our mind to ease.”

“I’m glad that we’re on the same page, Lysithea! Because after we finish our breakfasts, we’re going to march down to that aviary and bust down his wyvern’s door! There has to be some sort of evidence in there, after all.”

“We?” Lysithea scowled.

“I don’t really think that’s a good idea…” Marianne murmured as she shook her head. “Wyvern mothers can be especially territorial when they’re expecting. And considering that Vaida attacks anyone who enters her room in a normal state…”

“Which is why we have to do this while they’re gone! We might not have an opportunity to do this later!”

“Or we could just ask Claude ourselves.” Lysithea mentioned.

“Have you ever tried wringing an honest answer out of Claude?” Hilda sighed. “As the master of finding shortcuts to everything, believe me when I say this is the best way to find out the answers we deserve! Besides, it’s kinda dumb that Claude’s the only person that has the keys to Vaida’s room. What if he gets hurt or something? Who’s going to take care of his wyvern if no one could get inside? Maybe this will finally convince him to loosen up a bit.”

“I-I’m sure that Claude has his reasons for what he does…” Marianne’s whispers fell on deaf ears. Once Hilda got an idea in her head, it was basically impossible to get her to budge on it, even for the people that she unwillingly roped along. The most that her unlucky companions could hope for was that she didn’t cause too much of a ruckus on her crusade.

True to her words, Hilda dragged Lysithea and Marianne with her on her march towards the aviary. They would have made it there with little incident if it weren’t for a boisterous commotion at the gates. When the trio diverged from their paths to investigate, they found Raphael holding up a pained Ignatz, alongside two other injured guards from the prisoner caravan. The agonized look on Ignatz’s face and the desperate look on Raphael’s face chased all thoughts of Claude and Claude’s wyvern out of the girls’ head for quite some time.

* * *

The convoy had been attacked by a trio of mysterious men with beaked masks and dark robes. They opened their assault by lighting the Almyrans' wagons on fire. The bandit prisoners from Acheron managed to escape during the ensuing chaos, only for most of them to be recaptured or killed, but all of the Almyran prisoners perished in the flames. All that was left were bones in piles of ashes, charred beyond recognition. To add insult to injury, several of the guards were harmed by rampaging wyverns, renegade bandits, and the masked men themselves. Ignatz sported the most severe wound, a laceration across his front that took most of Marianne’s energy to close completely. Meanwhile, the masked men disappeared into the smoke without a trace, vanishing as quickly as they appeared.

A couple of days after Ignatz and Raphael returned home early, Lorenz, Leonie, and the rest of the convoy came back from House Goneril. They managed to successfully hand over the remainder of the bandit prisoners, as well as the Almyran interpreter on loan, but their homecoming was still wreathed with the oppressive aura of failure. General Holst had been astonishingly understanding of their predicament, considering that his house had the most to gain from Almyran prisoners, but he wasn’t pleased in the slightest. Claude, on the other hand, showed more rage and grief over the attack than he had ever shown before. When he came back from his family business to the chaos that was the Golden Deer base, he immediately fussed over everyone that was involved while simultaneously devoting much of his brain power to come up with ways to prevent this from ever happening again.

Ignatz would have been touched if he wasn’t in the center of Claude’s attention. During the few days he spent on bedrest, his commander visited him at least once a day to ask how he was feeling, give him some homemade medicines, and apologize for his ineptitude. Ignatz refuted those apologies, stating that Claude couldn’t have possibly known that Those Who Slither in the Dark would target the caravan. The organization had been long thought extinct, or at the very least not in good enough shape to attack a guarded transfer of Almyran prisoners. News of the group’s resurrection had been suppressed to prevent its spread outside of the Leicester Alliance. If the Kingdom of Faerghus or the Adrestian Empire knew about the attack, they would find some excuse to meddle into the smaller nation’s affairs, which might ultimately lead towards meddling in other unrelated affairs.

But it was hard to stop the rumors from flying at the epicenter. And it was hard for Ignatz to avoid those rumors when the evidence for them was seared onto his chest like a mark of shame. He sought to escape those rumors by indulging in a pastime of his: painting. Really, it was one of the few things he could do in his weakened state. It was also one of the few things that afforded some peace and quiet, especially when he retreated to one of the storehouses and worked on a painting that he had been working on for several weeks.

Just as soon as Ignatz set down his supplies, the door behind him creaked open. He whirled around, expecting to maybe find that strange girl he met about two weeks ago. He certainly didn’t expect Claude von Riegan to be standing in the doorway with a coy smile on his face.

“C-Claude!” He stammered. It was a good thing that he wasn’t holding his bucket of painting supplies anymore, or else he would have dropped and scattered them to the dusty corners of the room. “What are you doing here?”

“Just checking up on you, of course.” Claude said whimsically. “You know, it isn’t good for someone who almost had their guts spilled to sneak off to strange places. Not like I’m one to talk though.”

He took several steps forward, his verdant eyes drifting to the almost-finished painting of a beautiful woman. Ignatz had no real reason to become nervous, yet he couldn’t stop the lump in his throat from forming. He technically wasn’t supposed to be here, painting a broken statue that wasn’t his. And now he was found out by the owner of the statue. Ignatz couldn’t come up with any excuses. He could only hope that Claude wasn’t too mad over his trespassing.

When Claude spoke again, he held none of that anger Ignatz was expecting. “Relax, Ignatz. I knew that you’ve been painting this statue for a while. And I don’t mind what you’re doing at all. In fact, I think your painting looks better than the real thing.”

“Really?” Ignatz squeaked. “I took quite a few artistic liberties on it though… Is that ok?”

“I dunno. You’re the painter. You should be painting what you think looks right.”

“But…” Ignatz turned his attention back to his painting. The graceful woman resembled the statue in many ways, from her gentle curves to her billowing robes. But he couldn’t ignore her pair of pure white wings that stood in stark contrast to the statue’s bare back. They gave her an additional sense of elegance and enhanced her presence while also covering up the mark he accidentally inflicted on her arm. However, he was aware that the addition of wings would be a controversial decision, especially when he assumed that this statue was religious in nature. The Church of the Goddess had nothing good to say about certain winged humans, so the decision to give this woman such a prominent pair was certainly quite bold, as well as taboo, and maybe even blasphemous.

Ignatz didn’t regret his choice. Not even when he fought against harpies, and then fought against people that killed the harpy he was supposed to protect. Now that the woman was flying across the canvas with unmatched poise and regalness, he couldn’t see her doing anything else. But this painting was supposed to be private. The leader of the Golden Deer, who was also the one who shunted it off to this dismal storeroom in the first place, was never supposed to lay his eyes upon it.

That was probably why he remained shell shocked as Claude sat down next to him and continued to admire the painting. “If you’re worried about the wings, don’t be. I think she looks nicer with them. Like she’s supposed to have them.”

“Ah, um.” Ignatz fumbled over his words before he could actually say what he wanted to say. “They were someone’s suggestion. She pointed out the statue had two broken off areas on the back, like where her wings should have been. And then I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. And then when I put it down on canvas, I didn’t want to get rid of them.”

“Your painter’s instincts were right.” Claude nodded. “Mind if I tell you a secret?”

“Hm?” Ignatz blinked. That was a rare thing for Claude to say. He usually reveled in keeping secrets, not revealing them.

Despite the artist’s non-committal answer, Claude kept talking. “According to my uncle’s records, this is a sculpture of Riegan, the Huntress of Stars.”

“One of the 10 Heroes?"

“That’s right. This statue is actually incredibly old, maybe even older than the founding of the Leicester Alliance. It’s remarkable that it stayed in such good condition, sans her broken wings.”

“So she did have wings…” Ignatz murmured. He stared at the lovely woman in his painting, with her wings spread out for the whole world to see, then at the statue, who seemed naked in comparison. 

"But why would such a holy figure be carved with wings?" Ignatz muttered to himself. "She never had anything like that in real life. In fact, humans with wings on their back never existed."

"That's a good question. I'm still searching for the answer myself." Claude shrugged. "My best guess is that the statue predates the modern iteration of the Church of the Goddess. Back then, they didn't have such hang-ups on wings. Although that still doesn't explain why she was made with them, when it's historically inaccurate."

Ignatz just nodded along. Being an avid painter, he did know quite a bit about art history, including that the Church didn't always regard winged humans as abominations. Unfortunately, any evidence of such an era was few and far in between. This statue of Riegan would be the first time he laid eyes on something so old.

“And you want to know another secret?” Claude’s wistful look suddenly darkened. “I think my uncle broke them off.”

“Huh? Why would he do that?”

“Take a wild guess.” Claude replied tersely. Ignatz rested his gaze on the broken statue once more. Now she looked sad as well as naked, like she was denied of who she was. Claude’s revelation made him even more confident in his inclusion, although he wasn’t sure if he would like to share his painting with anyone else yet. Ignatz guessed that Godfrey von Riegan broke off the statue’s wings either because he didn’t want such a heretical piece of art in his household, or he preferred to vandalize history in order to suit his own aesthetics. Either reason was atrocious, in Ignatz’s opinion. 

Then again, he wasn’t a descendant of Riegan. His perspective paled in comparison to Lord Godfrey’s or Claude’s, who had much to lose if they were suggested offspring of a winged human. The statue wasn’t as grotesque as a real harpy, but even just the hint of inhumanity would be enough to soil their otherwise proud lineage.

“How do you know all this?” Ignatz’s burning curiosity gave him the courage to ask more questions. 

“Lord Godfrey keeps very meticulous notes of all artworks he bought. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find out the sculptor of this statue or anything else.” Claude sighed.

“That’s a shame. I would like to know if I’m doing the Hero Riegan justice.”

“Well, as the grandson of the grandson of the grandson of the Hero Riegan, I think you’re doing marvellously.” Claude beamed. “Although, I don’t suppose you can draw her with Failnaught at this stage? And maybe hunting stars, whatever that means?”

“I’m afraid it’s a bit late to add in your requests. I would have to change her pose to include her bow. And honestly, I’m not that great at drawing people with bows from memory. I would need a model, at the very least…”

“I could model for you. I’ll even bring down the real deal.”

“Ah, that won’t be necessary! You don’t need to concern yourself with something so trivial! Besides, you’ll probably get your own portrait someday.”

“Heh, yeah. As soon as I’m allowed to do something important, like actually sit in on the roundtable…”

Claude’s trailing sentence put a damper on the otherwise enthusiastic conversation. Ignatz felt his melancholy acutely, even though he didn’t agree with it. He wasn’t sure why Claude wasn’t allowed to partake in the roundtable in any official capacity, but he thought that he was doing a stellar job at leading the Golden Deer. Admittedly, he might be better at this hands-on stuff than the endless prattling that the ruling lords often engaged in. It certainly brought him more happiness. Ignatz noticed how he smiled whenever he saved villages from bandits, or rescued merchants from monsters, or pitched in during disaster relief efforts, despite the man’s best efforts to put up a nonchalant front.

“Ignatz.” Claude suddenly spoke up with guilt in his voice. He knew what he was going to say next. “I’m sorry that you got hurt during the attack.”

“We’ve been over this. It’s not your fault.” Ignatz shook his head. He also wasn’t sure why Claude insisted on apologizing again and again. His repeated sorries wounded him more than the slash on his chest.

“I know. But I could have done more to keep you safe. I could have sent more guards along, or mapped out a different route to House Goneril. Hell, I could have come with you. I should have come with you.”

“There’s no use in beating yourself over what you could have done.” Ignatz forced him to sound as confident as Claude. If he backed down, then Claude’s apologies were never going to end. “I survived, and I’ll recover from my injury. Besides, I should be the one saying sorry. I had one of the dark mages in my grasp and I let him get away.”

“Hey, there's no need to apologize for that. Without your help, we would have never been able to identify Those Who Slither in the Dark.” Claude's smile fell briefly from his face as he uttered the next part. “Still, as your leader, I shouldn’t have let this happen in the first place.”

“And I was actually there.” Ignatz replied. “ _ I _ shouldn’t have let him escaped”

“We’re just going to keep going in circles at this rate, aren’t we?” Claude chuckled. “Let’s cut this short and say we’re both at fault then, ok?”

“Sounds good to me.” It was what Ignatz actually wanted in the first place. Well, he didn’t exactly want to pin any blame on Claude, but he didn’t say that out loud lest he set Claude off again.

“And to top it off, I’ll make you a new promise.” Claude sounded more chipper as he spoke, a bit more like his old self. “We’ll find Those Who Slither in the Dark and make sure they don’t get away with their injustice. Does that also sound good?”

“Yes. Yes it does.” Ignatz could wholeheartedly agree to that. He couldn’t let those villains roam free, willing and able to commit terrible acts for their own twisted ideals. How many more people would suffer by their hands? How many more would die? He would also be lying to himself if he denied that he wanted some form of retribution. The scar on his chest still ached to bring the one who inflicted it to justice.

“Alright. That’s what I’d like to hear.” Claude stood up and patted Ignatz’s shoulder. “Just between you and me, I think we’ll have a breakthrough soon. I got a lead on Those Who Slither in the Dark from an unrelated case that I’d like to follow through.”

“Oh?” Ignatz’s mouth formed a small ‘o’. 

“Yeah. Don’t tell anyone what I just said. It’s a bit of a delicate matter, and I need some time to untangle it. But when we’re ready, I hope that you’ll be by my side. Not trying to rush your healing or anything though.”

“I hear you. I’ll be ready when you need me.”

“Good.” Claude turned to leave, then stopped himself just before he exited the room. “And one more thing? I’d like to buy the painting from you when you finish with it.”

“P-pardon me?” Ignatz choked on his own surprise. “I can’t let you pay for it! You can have it for free if you want it! It’s just a little thing I’m working on during my spare time, nothing too important.”

“Little. Right.” Claude studied the canvas, which was probably tall enough to cover all of Ignatz except his head. “But you spent a lot of time on it. I can’t let you give it up without some kind of compensation. Tell you what. I’ll give you time to think about it. When you finished, I’ll offer you however much I think it’s worth, and then we can barter on it. You come from a family of merchants, so haggling should be a piece of cake for you.”

Ignatz felt his mind failing him. He still didn’t think this was a good idea, and still was willing to give this painting to Claude for free for reasons besides his own modesty. It just didn’t feel right to charge money for a depiction of his ancestor, of his uncle’s statue, of a winged woman that Claude seemed to understand on an intimate level… Yet all he could stammer out was, “Uh, ok.”

“Great. I’m glad we can come to an agreement.” Claude winked. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. I took up enough of your time already.”

Claude’s footsteps retreated through the door that closed behind him. Ignatz was left feeling dazed over the entire exchange that took place, but he regained himself when he picked up his paintbrush. Now that he knew the history behind the statue, his brush had more purpose behind each stroke. And now that he had a potential buyer, he became even more determined to make this painting worth Claude’s while. If only to make up for his failures as a soldier.

* * *

Lamassu’s wings ached so badly, they threatened to fall off if she continued her trajectory, but she couldn’t stop until she reached His Majesty.

Her destination was in sight. The Almyran capital city, Alborz, was situated on a lone mountain that stood in the middle of a desert. As if to establish its sovereignty further, the city’s people built many spires and towers that casted long shadows on the barren land around it. However, none of the buildings stood taller than the royal palace. Flying to the very top of the tower, where His Majesty resided, was already quite a feat for normal harpies. It should have been nigh impossible for one that flew day and night across Fodlan’s Throat, but the letters Lamassu carried burned her feathers, preventing her from resting until she brought them to their intended recipient.

Her trial-goer sash allowed her to bypass many of the guards and other traditional checkpoints without much difficulty. Soon enough, she was allowed to meet His Majesty in person.

Lamassu passed through the final gates, then bowed her head. She knew without looking that she stood before a large harpy perched on a golden throne. He boasted a thick, dark brown beard that rivalled her father’s and long hair that reached the back of his neck. His tan skin was marred with many scars but his umber feathers flecked with gold were immaculately kept. Behind his rounded ears grew long feathers tipped with a dusty gold that gave the impression of horns, or a pair of feathered crests. Like most harpies, he wore no clothes, save for an ornate crown of gold that accentuated his matching golden gaze. But unlike most harpies, by his side was a human woman. Her fair skin, red hair, and green eyes made her stand out even more, yet she carried herself with the same royal bearing as her husband.

“[Lamassu al’Layuqhar, daughter of Nader al’Layuqhar. You have approached the throne that could become yours. What have you Reclaimed from the talons of our enemies, to prove that you are worthy of it?]” His Majesty spoke.

“[I have Reclaimed letters from your son, Prince Khalid al’Simorq.]” Without a single glance up, Lamassu grabbed the parcel of letters and reached them out to His Majesty.

He did not reply immediately, choosing to only leap down from his throne and inspect the letters. Or, to be more accurate, inspect the feather that was attached to the wax seal. It was much smaller than His Majesty’s feathers, and its gold sheen was harder to discern, but once it flashed its colors in the sunlight, there was no mistaking it.

Of course, His Majesty could tell right away that Lamassu brought her the genuine article. He took the letters from her outstretched wing talons and flew back up to his perch. “[Lamassu al’Layuqhar, you have done well to bring me news from my son. Leave this chamber so I may deliberate on your Reclamation. I will summon you once my decision is made.]”

Lamassu wordlessly bowed her head again before departing. Now that the royal pair were alone and behind closed doors, King Anzu al’Simorq and Tiana von Riegan could talk freely amongst themselves. 

“[I’m honestly surprised that Lamassu settled for letters from Khalid.]” Tiana mused to herself. “[I expected her to drag his sorry ass back here, dead or alive.]”

“[You speak as if his first letters in several years weren’t enough for you.]” Anzu chuckled, a noise reminiscent of low-pitched clucking.

“[Of course they aren’t! Khalid isn’t even the head of House Riegan yet, last I heard! He definitely could send more correspondence if he wanted to!]”

“[Peace, Tiana. Maybe you should read what he has to say before sharpening your tongue.]” Anzu proceeded to do the very thing he suggested to his wife. As soon as his wing talons peeled off the wax seal, something drifted out of the paper. He caught the item with his feet and brought it up to examine. His son had not only attached his own feather, but another feather, this one an ashen grey color. There were many harpies in his kingdom that sported grey plumage, but when he twirled the shaft around, it displayed an iridescent range of colors from dark teal blue, like a stormy ocean, to bright green, like young spring leaves.

This feather didn’t belong to an ordinary harpy. Khalid had found someone extraordinary. A smile crept across King Anzu’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Riegan is canonically a man but I made him a woman in this AU for reasons. Shhhh


	17. A Bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth takes a (bird)bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for something completely different.
> 
> As a forewarning, this chapter has some non-sexual nudity that's played mostly for humor. Sorry to disappoint anyone that's looking forward to something more steamy lol.

It had started out like a normal day. Claude arrived early in the morning to give Byleth and Vaida some food. For his wyvern, he offered a freshly slain goat, while to Byleth, he presented to her a meat pie still warm from the oven. If Byleth was being honest with herself, she would have preferred the goat and all its bloodiness, but Vaida already tore into her breakfast with vigor and refused to share. So the harpy contented herself with the flaky, savory, delight that spilled its juices down her front.

She only noticed that Claude was looking at her oddly after she finished her pie. It was the kind of look that was laced with silent amusement and held no contempt for her. Byleth had seen that expression a couple of times already, like when she asked Claude about riding a horse and about bringing her books about Almyra. But this time, she couldn’t possibly figure out what caused that look. 

Perhaps she puzzled over his expression more because of the headband he was wearing. Wrapped around his forehead and behind his ears was a long piece of golden and steel blue cloth. Byleth couldn't say whether she liked it or disliked it, only that Claude looked very different with it. He looked more rogue-ish and less noble-ish, maybe. It certainly made it harder to discern his intentions while she was getting used to it.

“When was the last time you took a bath?” Claude asked out of the blue.

A bath? That word wasn’t unfamiliar to Byleth. She wasn’t a complete animal, after all. But she wondered what possibly brought up this topic. “Yesterday.” She answered.

“How did you bathe yourself, may I ask?”

“Like this.” Byleth sat down in the sand of the aviary and dug herself a shallow depression. She then kicked the sand into the air by flapping her wings and shaking her entire body. As she rolled around, the grains scratched her skin, both bare and underneath her feathers, relieving her of various itches. She bathed herself in the sand until she felt clean enough. When she raised her head up, she noticed that Claude was coated in a thin layer of dust that he brushed off of himself.

Seeing as how her feathers were a mess, Byleth began to preen herself as Claude spoke. “Uh, I really was asking about the last time you bathed in water.”

“Water?” Her left wing talons stopped while they were straightening out her right wing feathers. “The last time would be… when I fell into the fishing pond.”

“That’s what I thought.” Claude nodded to himself. “I don’t exactly know how harpies clean themselves, but it can’t be good for you to dust bathe all the time.”

“Why not?” Byleth asked. She felt perfectly fine.

“Well, uh, I don't think your bare skin gets thoroughly washed. And your chestplate is also a mess. When’s the last time you cleaned it?”

That question gave Byleth some pause. She never felt the need to take it off, nor did she ever remember taking it off. She glanced down at the black metallic piece of armor and realized why Claude was so concerned about it. It was coated with not only greasy juice from her recently consumed meat pie, but also other stains and crusty marks of unknown origins. She must have been dirtying it the whole time with her messy eating habits and never gave it a second thought. Claude, on the other hand, had to watch the grime accumulate until he couldn’t take it anymore.

With a sudden surge of bashfulness, Byleth opted not to respond and focused her attention solely on preening. Claude wasn’t deterred by her averted gaze and continued on.

“How about this? Later tonight, you can take a real bath with water while I help you clean your chestplate.”

“Where?” Byleth asked while she tilted her head.

“Hm.” Claude tapped a finger against his chin. She was surprised that he didn’t have an answer to such a simple question right away. Did he not expect her to accept his suggestion so quickly? “The safest place for you would probably be my bathroom. No one's going to barge into my quarters, especially when I’m inside.”

“I’m going to see your room?” Byleth’s feathers puffed up in excitement.

“ _Just_ my bathroom. Which looks like any other bathroom, except it’s a lot bigger and fancier I guess.”

“Oh.” Byleth deflated a little bit. She had hoped to see the living arrangements of Claude for a very long time. In fact, she had that idea ever since she viewed the von Riegan mansion from Vaida’s back, all those weeks ago. She supposed it would be too easy to have the answer to that mystery handed to her through a simple outing.

“Don’t sound so dejected. It’ll be great! Your bath, I mean. And also your cleaned chestplate, when I’m done with it.” Claude let out a laugh, as if trying to mask the general awkwardness of the conversation with levity. “I’ll come get you later tonight, when I finish setting everything up. Just sit tight until then, ok?”

When Byleth agreed with a nod, he tousled her hair that she just combed through with her talons. After giving his wyvern similarly intimate farewells, Claude left them the two of them alone. Or rather, the three of them. A yawn at the back of Byleth’s mind reminded her that Sothis was still around. She just managed to sleep through the entire exchange.

“Mmm. Good morning.” The apparition of the winged girl popped into existence. “Did Claude already drop by for breakfast?”

_“He did.”_ Byleth went back to combing her hair.

“Oh bother. I hope I didn’t miss anything important.” Sothis sulked. “What did he have to say?”

_“He offered to wash my chestplate while I bathe in his bathroom tonight.”_

A pause. Then Sothis erupted into a mix of indignation, shock, and anger. “He did what?!”

Byleth blinked at her outrage. She wasn’t expecting that sort of reaction from her. She proceeded to relay the discussion she just had with Claude in her usual monotone manner. When she finished, Sothis was no less mollified as she crossed her arms and folded her wings.

“What am I to do with a naive, gullible hatchling such as you?” She sighed out her rhetorical question.

_“Why is this a bad thing? Claude’s only looking out for my well being.”_

“Hmph. It sounds like to me he may have more lecherous intentions.” Sothis sighed again, blowing away a strand of hair that blew into her face. 

_“Lecherous…?”_ Byleth hadn’t thought of him that way, mostly because they were two entirely different species. It would be downright strange of him to be attracted to someone so incompatible.

Sothis perhaps picked up on her thoughts, as she launched into a tirade based on them. “I may not be the best judge of beauty, with my small sample size, but I would say that you’re conventionally attractive for a harpy. Besides, that boy has been spending a lot of time with you, and not just because of your injured wing. It’s only natural that time breeds familiarity, and that familiarity might make him bold.”

Byleth responded with nothing but blinks again. Sothis let out a disgruntled sound. “You really are hopeless. During the next appropriate time, remind me to ask Claude for some romance novels. You need to be educated on the inner workings of men.”

_“Ok.”_

“Don’t just say ok!” Sothis declared before settling down. “Ugh. Nevermind that. Scolding you is like scolding a brick wall. At least I’ll be awake for your bath tonight. If he tries anything funny, I’ll… I’ll…”

The ghostly guardian glanced down at her hands, which were unsuitable for any sort of punishment because they would just phase right through someone. 

_“I’ll claw out his face?”_ Byleth helpfully suggested.

“Yes. That’ll do.” Sothis nodded. “Just be careful, hatchling. Men rarely invite women to their bathrooms without some ulterior motive.”

* * *

Claude showed up again later at night, like he promised. He gave Byleth a set of cleric’s robes to be on the safe side as they wandered around the estate. She stumbled after Claude, slowly at first, then picked up her pace as the lights of the von Riegan manor grew bigger. Soon enough, they entered the building, only for Claude to avoid the main hallways and drag Byleth down several smaller corridors instead. He must be taking these detours to avoid patrols or other unwanted onlookers, but she still marveled at the architecture and the decor of Claude’s home. Everything was so ornate and fancy, unlike the stone walls and pale sand of the wyvern aviary she had become accustomed to. There were paintings of lands that seemed to only exist in the imagination, vases with delicate markings either filled with flowers or nothing at all, and door handles that looked more expensive than the doors themselves. The rooms that they passed by were mostly empty or closed for the night, judging from their resounding silence, but Byleth did notice one or two rooms that held people still awake at this hour. She only gazed longingly at the sliver of golden light emanating through the cracks before being hurried onward by Claude.

The two of them (or three, counting Sothis) finally reached Claude’s room. As soon as he ushered Byleth inside, she immediately tripped on a book on the floor. Everywhere she looked, there were books. They were stacked up on his desks, piled on the edge of his unmade bed, and strewn across the floor. She had pegged Claude as an organized man, so it was a bit of a shock to see the state he lived in. As if Claude sensed her surprise, he quickly ushered her through a door that led to his bathroom.

Now this was more like it. Byleth’s talons clattered on marble floors as she marveled the equally pristine walls and countertops. Lamps illuminated a large basin built into a stone countertop, already filled with warm, steaming water. Perched next to the bathtub was a rack of curious bottles, and in front of the tub were red, velvety curtains that could be pulled together to shield the bather from the rest of the room. From the way the curtains dangled from a rail stretching from wall to wall, it was obvious that these curtains were here long before Claude brought Byleth here for a bath.

“Alright. Feel free to use the bathtub however you like.” Claude waved a hand towards the tub, as if he wasn’t sure how Byleth was going to wash herself. “I got you some shampoos, fragrances, and oils you can try out. But please close the curtains when you take off your chestplate. You can hand it to me through them.”

Byleth nodded and trotted over to the bathtub. She closed the curtains like Claude had asked, only to be struck by indecision afterwards. She never took off her chestplate since she arrived here, mostly because the clasps for it were in an awkward spot on her back. She couldn’t reach them, no matter how she stretched her wings.

“Hm, this seems like a modest set-up so far. But that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down.” Sothis stuck a hand through the curtains. Her act of curiosity didn’t disturb them at all. She didn’t seem to notice Byleth’s struggles until a few seconds later, when Byleth decided to ask for help from a different person.

“Claude, could you help me take this off?”

“What?!” Both Claude and Sothis remarked at the same time.

“Uh, are you sure you can’t take it off by yourself?” Claude asked from beyond the curtains.

“I’m sure.”

“Well, uh, just face your back towards me and I’ll help. You can cover your front with the curtains.”

“Hold on, are you really going to let this boy take off your clothes for you?!” Sothis squawked seconds too late. Byleth already did what Claude suggested and presented to him her back. Fingers fumbled around the chestplate’s clasps, undoing them one by one. After a long minute with Sothis leering at both Byleth and Claude, the latter managed to take her armor off and dragged it to a sink.

“Hmph. At least he didn’t take the opportunity to make an already awkward situation worse.” Sothis scoffed. “But why are you wearing a chestplate that needed someone else’s assistance to take off? I do hope Claude doesn’t tamper with it.”

Byleth had no answers for Sothis, but she did feel strange without her chestplate on. Her chest was no longer constrained by metal, yet at the same time, she felt incredibly vulnerable. Well, this was only for a little while. She perched on the edge of the bathtub and leaned closer to the water, only to recoil when scalding steam billowed into her face. This water was far too hot. She confirmed her fears by dipping the tips of her talons into the bath, and then hastily drew it back out. Did humans wash themselves in steaming hot water all the time?

Byleth was about to mention this to Claude, but stopped herself when she heard splashing from the other side of the curtains. It sounded like he already started scrubbing her chestplate clean. In that case, she shouldn’t bother him with trivialities like this. The temperature shouldn’t be an issue if she didn't even step into the tub anyway. She brought her wings forward to splash the bathwater all over herself. The droplets felt cooler they flew through the air and landed on and in between her feathers, as well as everywhere else. However, she didn’t really care that she was making a mess. Byleth continued spraying water all over herself, leaning her head closer and closer to the water’s surface until she could shake water into her hair. She would have honestly preferred to stand in the water itself than to just perch on its edge, in order to kick the most water up per flap. But since she was certain her feet would burn in there, she had to content herself like this.

“Are you alright in there?” Claude called out.

“Yeah.”

“You sure? It sounds like you’re drowning with all that splashing.”

“Splashing is normal. If I was drowning, I would be screaming.”

“... Yeah. You’re right.” Claude admitted. “But hey, try pouring some of the stuff on the rack into the water. Not only will it make you smell nice, it’ll clean you up better too. And there’s some sponges to the side that you can use to wash your skin.”

“Ok.” Byleth couldn’t help but feel like she was being a bit babied. It was true that she wasn’t used to bathing with water, but that didn’t mean she was completely helpless. She already got enough of that from Sothis. Speaking of her, Byleth glanced up to find that Sothis was poking her head through the curtains, presumably to watch Claude.

_“Do you see anything interesting?”_ She asked.

“Unfortunately not. His back is turned towards us.” Sothis sighed as she turned back around. She fluttered down to the rack of bottles that Claude mentioned. “What are these anyway?”

Byleth grabbed a pink bottle, uncorked its top, and dumped all of its contents into the bath. The pink liquid smelled distinctively of flowers, and that smell permeated throughout the entire room as it spread out in the water. She noticed that there also were some flower petals on the rack, although they weren’t as odoriferous as the fluid she just poured in. Were they for decoration? Regardless of their purpose, she tossed some of them into the bath and bit down on one for good measure. They didn’t taste good either.

The harpy decided against using any more bottles, as her first one already clogged her nostrils with its floral scent. She splashed the flower water all over her body again. She wasn’t sure if she liked smelling like flowers herself, but it was an interesting thought at the very least. Remembering the second part of Claude’s advice, Byleth glanced around until she spotted the aforementioned sponges on the other side of the tub. While still perched on its edge, she scooted around the perimeter, occasionally making small splashes with her movements. When they were within talon’s reach, she stretched out a leg to grab it, only for her remaining foot to slip on the bathtub’s wet surface. She let out a loud scream as she plunged into the water.

“Byleth?!” Sothis cried out. She was distinctly reminded of the time she fell into the fishing pond, only this time the water was pleasantly warm, smelled nice, and she wasn’t being dragged to her watery doom by a suspected sea monster. Instead, by spreading her wings across the surface, she kind of floated. The tub was too shallow to drown in anyway, as the water level only reached her chest when she crouched.

“Byleth! What happened?” Claude echoed Sothis’s concerns as he ran over and pulled the curtains apart, only to balk when he realized that he basically walked in on her while she was naked. At least most of her body was covered by pink, shimmering water with petals floating on top of it. All that remained above the surface were her head, shoulders, and wings.

"I'm ok. I just slipped." She told him. Her head sank further into the tub until her mouth was submerged, so that she blew bubbles when she spoke.

"O-oh." Claude sounded like he had difficulty saying what he wanted to say. Maybe because the wafting steam turned his face a bright red color. "Watch your step, ok? Just because we're in my bathroom doesn't mean slippery surfaces can't hurt you."

He moved to turn away, but Byleth spoke up before he left. “Could I have a stool to put in the tub? I want to stand on it.”

“Huh? Ok. Sure. I’ll find something.” Claude hastily closed the curtains behind him. 

Sothis let out a laugh. "If Claude was that embarrassed about accidentally barging in on you, I can't imagine him trying anything else. Still, I'm glad that you're alright, hatchling."

Byleth burbled in response. Not long after Claude excused himself, his arm stuck through the red, velvety wall to leave behind a wooden stool. The stool was somehow the perfect height, even though Byleth probably wasn’t going to use it as intended. She pulled herself out of the water, feeling a cool draft as she did so, and hurriedly grabbed the stool to put it in the middle of the tub. Her feathers puffed out to ward off the chilly air, which just made them easier to wash. Now that she perched on the chair and surrounded herself with the flower scented bathwater, she could douse herself even more by flapping her wings and twisting her body. By the time she was satisfied, she had made the walls and floors as wet as her feathers.

But Byleth didn’t feel completely clean yet. Out of curiosity, she grabbed sponges and scrubbed her bare skin from head to toe, like Claude suggested. She ended up sloughing off so much dirt, the water wasn't as pink as it was when she first started. If she was that dirty, maybe she should make water baths part of her routine grooming.

Her sponge reached her chest, where she noticed something interesting. Byleth traced a faint symbol etched into the skin right above her heart, a symbol made of flowing curves that resembled a flower somewhat. She realized with a start that this was the same symbol that was emblazoned on Sothis's clothes.

_"Sothis."_ Byleth called out to her. The girl was peeping on Claude again, but returned to Byleth's side when she heard her.

"What is it?"

_"Did I always have this symbol on my chest?"_ Byleth pointed to her heart. Sothis floated over the water to get a closer look.

"Huh. I've never noticed it before, but that's because you never took off your chestplate. I'm inclined to believe that you had it all along." Sothis stared at the symbol with fascination. "And it matches the emblems on my clothes! How curious! Perhaps that is how we are connected."

_"Do you think Claude would know about it?"_

"Maybe. How are you going to-"

"Claude? I have something on my chest." Byleth pulled herself out of the bathtub and walked over to the wall of curtains separating them. 

"No! What are you doing?! Get back in the tub!" Sothis yelled to no avail.

"What, are you talking about your-" Claude turned around to find the aforementioned harpy on the other side of the curtains, sans her chestplate. Because he was in the middle of washing it, with his sleeves rolled up.

"AHH!!" He shouted while throwing a towel at Byleth's face. Byleth stumbled backwards, back behind the curtains.

"Honestly, hatchling! You need to think before you act!" Sothis scolded from above. Her shrill voice had a hint of laughter in it.

"Sorry." Byleth said out loud for both Sothis and Claude as she pulled the towel off of her head. That was the loudest she heard Claude scream, and she surprised Claude quite often.

"I didn’t mean to yell so loudly." Claude said from the other side of the curtains. "It's just- The curtains are there for a reason. If you want to go through them without any clothes on, at least let me know first!"

"I will."

"Thank you." Claude breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, what did you want to show me? And, uh, cover yourself up this time."

Byleth couldn’t figure out how to preserve her modesty while still showing Claude the symbol. She eventually settled for draping the towel over her shoulders so that its ends dangled in front of her breasts. The towel was long and voluminous, so it wouldn’t reveal anything even if she moved a bit too quickly.

Her attempt apparently wasn’t good enough for Claude. He had set the chestplate down in the sink and rolled down his sleeves, but he still wasn’t prepared enough for Byleth. He stared at her, or to be more precise, at her chest for several solid seconds before averting his gaze. His cheeks were flushed red again, even though he was nowhere near the steaming bathtub. Sothis was entertained by his fluster, as evident from her endless giggles and wide grin.

“Claude. You need to look at me.” Byleth spoke up.

“Yeah. Just give me a moment.” Claude took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then reopened them as he turned towards Byleth. Gone was his blushing face and fluttering gaze. He now wore his usual easygoing expression that displayed none of the embarrassment from before.

“Ok. Whatcha got?” Well, to say that there wasn’t any embarrassment left was a bit of a lie. Byleth noticed his voice was more strained, like he was trying to hold back impulsive words, and his eyes honed in unnaturally on her face. She supposed it was a good thing he was restraining himself, or Sothis would implore Byleth to uphold the promise she made earlier.

Byleth pointed to the symbol on her chest. Claude’s verdant eyes flitted downwards. All traces of discomfort on his face vanished in an instant. When he narrowed his eyes, he looked more like his curious self, the Claude that got hooked by another one of her mysteries and wouldn’t let go until he found out the answers.

“That’s…” He took a step closer. “Is that a Crest?”

“What’s a Crest?” Byleth asked.

Claude opened his mouth to answer, but his eyes lingered on places on Byleth’s body that they shouldn’t linger on. He immediately closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Uh, would you mind putting your chestplate back on? I can’t have a serious conversation like this.”

“I have to dry myself first. And you have to help me put it on.”

“Right. Of course.” Claude muttered. Once Byleth dried herself with her towel (with her back facing him), he fetched the chestplate from the sink. Byleth felt Claude’s hands brush against her skin as they tied her armor back on her. She adjusted it so it fitted her comfortably before turning right back around. She hoped that Claude got a good look at the ‘Crest’ before she put the chestplate back on, because she would have to disrobe again if he had forgotten it.

“So. Crests.” Claude sounded like he was back to normal as he began his explanation. “They’re like special powers passed down through a certain bloodline. Most of these bloodlines were started by the holy men and women like the past: The 10 Heroes, the 5 Saints, and the 4 Apostles. The Church of the Goddess claims that the Goddess gifted Crests to these chosen few, but at the same time, the Church warns their descendents against abusing them. Still, a lot of the ruling families of Fodlan have a Crest, since having a Crest makes it easier to defend territory and to gather influence. You see where I’m going with this, right?”

Byleth nodded. During his explanation, she started to dry herself off with the towel, just so she wouldn’t have to endure the chilly air outside the bathtub. This Crest was yet another trait that a harpy like her shouldn’t have. But it wasn’t just her that had it.

“Sothis has this Crest too.” She mentioned. “It’s not on her skin like me. She has it adorned on her clothes instead.”

“Really? How interesting.” Claude murmured. “Do either of you know anything about it? Like any powers it grants?”

“I haven’t the foggiest. That’s why we were asking you about it.” Sothis muttered to Claude, even though he couldn’t hear her. Meanwhile, Byleth couldn’t immediately think of any powers associated with it, besides maybe her strange method of spellcasting. Was that related to her Crest? She thought about it for a little bit as she coated her wing talons with oil in order to preen. When her mind came up with nothing else, she posed the question to Claude, who shrugged his shoulders. 

“I remember hearing that people with Crests have more potent magic, but that isn’t a hard and fast rule. Like, I’m terrible with magic, while I know a bunch of mages without Crests.”

“You have a Crest?” Byleth perked up.

“Yeah. It’s aptly called the Crest of Riegan. It looks something like this.” Claude got up and drew a crescent shaped symbol on the fogged up mirror. “It’s been passed down House Riegan for generations, along with the matching Hero’s Relic, Failnaught.”

“Hero’s Relic?”

“Some families have a weapon or accessory that can only be wielded by a Crest bearer, called a Hero's Relic, since most of them were wielded by the 10 Heroes of old. Now, I haven’t personally witnessed this, but I heard that bad things happen to those who try to use a Relic without the right Crest.”

“What sort of bad things?” Byleth had a feeling she didn’t want to know the answer, but her curiosity compelled her to ask.

“They drop dead on the spot. Or they turn into monsters. The stories vary depending on the time and location they’re told in.” Claude replied in a startlingly casual voice. His eyes had none of that disinterest, however, since they focused on her constant and repetitive motions as Byleth preened her wing. She carried on despite Claude’s stares and Sothis’s remarks.

“For being weapons of ancient holy warriors, they have quite a wicked curse on them.” Sothis mused in Byleth’s head. “I suppose the Goddess _really_ didn’t want anyone abusing her gifts. Although, wouldn’t that just mean those with the proper Crest can do whatever they want? And those without will have to work around such a discrepancy in strength?”

As interesting as Sothis’s thoughts were, Byleth didn’t really want to argue about the politics of Crests in Claude’s bathroom. She was too focused on preening her feathers. Besides, Claude moved on from that heavy topic already. “Anyway, the Crest of Riegan grants me accelerated healing. I can survive all sorts of poisons, stabbings, falls, stuff like that. It works a lot better during battle though, especially if there’s someone I can swing a sword at. Don’t ask why that is.”

Hearing Claude talk his own Crest made Byleth stop mid-preen. She remembered something. On the day that they met, she had a prophetic vision that warned her of Claude’s demise at the hands of a bandit if she didn’t intervene. The vision pushed her into action, which led to her broken wing, which led her to the von Riegan manor and everything else that followed. She had neglected to tell Claude this important detail, even while she explained Sothis to him a long time ago, because it still felt a bit like a feverish dream. Byleth wasn’t sure if that vision had magical origins or if it was just her imagination running wild. But now, while they were on the subject of Crests…

“Byleth, I know what you’re going to say. And I would advise against it.” Sothis floated closer to Byleth until she was practically resting on her shoulders.

_“Why?”_

“If we truly have the power to predict the future, it could be dangerous in the hands of someone as shrewd as Claude. Not that I think he’ll use it for some dastardly deed, but it wouldn’t hurt him to keep him in the dark a little longer. This is a mystery we need to solve by ourselves.”

Byleth was going to protest but stopped herself. What if Sothis was using their prophetic abilities right now to figure that out? And even if she wasn’t looking into the future, her logic was still sound. She didn’t want Claude to think of her any differently because she might be able to see the future. Like he couldn't trust her anymore.

"Anyway, I can't fathom how you two got a Crest. Especially a Crest I haven't seen before." Claude continued on. "Crests actually get lost to history all the time, due to wars or natural disasters. That's what happened to the Crests of the Apostles. However, this would be the first time a completely unknown Crest surfaced. Or maybe…"

"Maybe?" Byleth refocused her attention on Claude.

"It isn't actually a Crest. It's just a symbol to proclaim your allegiance to someone. That still begs the question of who you might be allied with, though. And who would go so far as to brand the symbol on your skin?"

"Are Crests not supposed to be on the skin?" Byleth asked.

"No. Maybe it's different for harpies though. I’ve never met a harpy with a Crest before, so I can't say for certain…”

His voice trailed off as his eyes refocused on Byleth’s preening again. She was trying to get at some feathers on her back of her wing by stretching herself at weird angles. Those feathers were always troublesome, but now they were especially so when her right wing didn’t regain all of its flexibility yet. She supposed she was being a bit distracting right now, but her feathers weren’t going to preen themselves. Byleth had to do this while she was still clean from her bath.

“Uh, do you need help with that?” Claude piped up suddenly.

“Hm?” Byleth paused to give him a strange look.

“It looked like you were having trouble with your preening. I mean, I’m just a human, so I don’t really know how harpies preen, but I’ve taken care of pegasi before, so I’d like to think that I know enough to help.”

“Do you have any oil?” Byleth helped up her wet talons to show off what she was talking about.

“Nothing like yours, no.” Claude shook his head once before coming to a realization. “But I do have something I can use. Wait right here.”

He got up and left the bathroom. The cavernous room was disturbingly quiet without Claude around. Byleth glanced at Sothis, who was lounging around in the sink. Firstly, she was surprised that she could fit in there, even when not counting her ghostly-ness. Secondly, it appeared she was too deep in contemplation to offer much conversation. Byleth guessed that she was still pondering about Crests and Heroes’ Relics, but from the way she stared at the closed door, maybe she was thinking about Claude as well.

The man came back before Byleth could start wondering about him too. In his hands was an unlabeled glass vial with clear liquid inside. He popped the cork off the top and dripped a bit of the fluid onto his fingers. He rubbed them together so his fingers shone with an oily sheen that he was eager to show to Byleth.

“This is the preening oil we use for pegasi feathers. It should work just as well for you.”

“Why does Claude have that in his bedroom?” Sothis asked with narrowed eyes. When Byleth repeated her question, an indescribable look crossed his face for a brief second.

“It has some other uses in potion making and such. That’s all. Now, where’s that problem spot?”

Byleth pointed towards the area she was previously working on. The two of them sat down so Claude could jump on it right away, his dexterous fingers straightening and smoothing out feathers Byleth couldn’t reach well. For someone who said he didn’t know how harpies preened, he was doing a remarkable job. She didn’t even mind that he moved on from that mess of feathers and started preening the rest of her wing. This was so easy, so comforting, she was tempted to just ask him to help her out from now on. She at least wondered to herself why she didn’t ask for his aid earlier.

“You’re really good at this.” Byleth said in a half-daze.

“Hey, thanks. I try my best.” Claude chuckled softly. 

She unconsciously leaned into his chest while he worked. When her dark blue locks brushed against his fingers, they froze in the middle of a stroke. Byleth pulled herself back, fretting about how she might have weirded him out by getting so close, but he didn’t look that surprised when she glanced backwards. He instead had a serene expression that shifted into a bemused one when he realized that she was staring at him.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No…” Byleth turned her head back around. She hoped that he would continue like nothing happened, but he only resumed his preening for a few seconds before his voice broke the tranquil silence.

“Byleth, have you been combing your hair with just your talons this whole time?”

“... I guess?” She blinked. Was there another way to comb her hair?

“No wonder your hair is a mess.” Claude muttered with a laugh. “Here, let me introduce you to this wondrous invention.”

He stood up to retrieve a wooden item with a spikey, bulbous end. Byleth at first flinched at the sight of the object, as it looked more like a torture device than something for grooming. Then, as she stared at it a bit longer, the name of the item came to her mind.

“A hairbrush?”

“Oh, so you’re already acquainted? Then you already know how to use it, right?” Claude grabbed a bottle from the rack beside the bathtub and poured a few drops between its teeth. When he handed the brush to her, it glistened with the unfamiliar oil and smelled faintly sweet.

Just because she knew its name didn’t mean she knew how to use it. Byleth bit that retort back to give this hairbrush a try. After taking it from Claude, she grabbed onto her hair with one wing and pressed the brush into her hair with her other wing, and then pulled downwards. The first stroke went without a hitch, but she ran into a nasty tangle during her second stroke. The more she forced it through, the more her hair fought back, and she ended up yelping in pain as she tried to tear the knot away.

“Hey, don’t hurt yourself over this.” Claude remarked as he held out his hands. Byleth thought that he was offering his help again, so she passed the handle to him. From the look on his face, she thought wrong, but he didn’t complain and just started combing through her hair for her. 

"I should have given you a hairbrush much earlier." Claude said to himself. The brush was gentler in his hands, but he still had to be rough when he came across snarls. And there were so many of them. Byleth suppressed her winces so Claude wouldn’t worry about her, although she bet he could tell that she was in pain anyway. Eventually, the brush prevailed over her tangles, and Claude’s soothing strokes encouraged her to lean into him again. This time, he didn’t recoil. While he continued to smooth out her hair, Byleth worked on preening the rest of her feathers, which were mostly on her legs.

She wouldn't have minded continuing this blissful moment forever, but Claude, like always, couldn't stand the silence for very long. After a while, she heard a faint song coming from Claude’s throat. It was a soft, slow-paced thing, composed of drawn out notes and a lilting tune. Byleth couldn’t help but startle at the melodic humming, since he never sang in front of her before. Well, there was that one time when she was demonstrating her Fire spell for him, but this was a different situation. He just didn’t give the impression of being a musical person at all. Furthermore, the song was familiar for whatever reason. Or more like, it was familiar to Sothis.

“That song…” Sothis’s eyes widened as she leaned in closer. “How does Claude know it?”

_“What kind of song is it?”_

“It’s… a lullaby. I think. I sang it to someone I loved, a long time ago. That’s why Claude shouldn’t know it.”

_“Maybe it’s a common lullaby.”_ Byleth suggested.

Sothis shook her head. “No, I’m fairly certain that Claude shouldn’t know it. I… not only sang it, I made it. This is _my_ song.”

Byleth paused in her preening. The last few times Sothis recalled a song, she didn’t react so adamantly. She always spoke with a wistful manner, like she was trying to dig deeper into her forgotten past with every word. Right now, she sounded confident in her accusations, a harsh tone that broke the tranquility Claude’s humming had wrought.

“What’s up, Byleth?” Claude noticed her disquiet. The song that he shouldn’t know vanished in an instant.

“The song you were humming just now… What is it?”

“It’s just an old song I heard once. I don’t remember where, but it gets stuck in my head on occasion. Why do you ask? Don’t tell me Sothis knows this song too.”

“She does.” Byleth replied as she shot Sothis a glance. The green haired girl didn’t seem too upset about being revealed. In fact, she encouraged Byleth with a nod and a flap of her wings.

“She says it’s a song that she made.”

Claude dropped the brush he was holding. Its wooden clatter against the stone tiles accentuated his look of complete astonishment. He muttered an excuse under his breath as he picked it up, but didn’t resume his combing. 

“Well. I was not expecting that at all.” Claude said after recollecting himself. “Now I really wish I remember where I heard it from. It might offer some insight on your past. Does this song have lyrics too?”

“Yes it does.” Sothis spoke up. She pushed herself out of the sink to stand in front of Byleth. With her wings outstretched, she took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and began to sing. Like before, Byleth felt Sothis’s words building up in her own throat, and she released them in harmony with the phantom girl.

_“In Time’s Flow, see the glow_

_Of flames ever burning bright._

_On the swift river’s drift,_

_Broken memories alight.”_

Byleth could have continued on, but a sudden drowsiness overtook her. She didn’t know why she always felt tired after singing or, conversely, why Sothis didn’t feel tired at all. This time, at least she had the excuse of singing a song that was meant to lull people to sleep. Her head rested against Claude’s chest and her eyelids threatened to close on her, but Claude shook her awake before they actually did.

“Hey, you can’t fall asleep!” He exclaimed. “I mean, you can, but not here. I can’t be seen carrying a girl out of my bathroom!”

“Why not?” Byleth mumbled.

Claude raised an eyebrow. “Do you really need me to explain this to you?”

The wheels in Byleth head turned, despite her sleepiness. She eventually shook her head, much to Claude’s relief. He helped her stand up and garbed her in the white robes she had grown all too familiar with. “Here, lean on me if you must. Once we get back to the aviary, then you can go to sleep.”

Byleth merely nodded. She noticed that Claude had nothing to say about her singing this time, but maybe he was just too busy keeping her on her two feet. It was just a shame. She liked how he complimented her last time, how his verdant eyes sparkled in awe of her song of fire. But she supposed she could always ask him about tonight’s performance later...

* * *

Claude learned two very interesting things today.

The first thing was that Byleth had the largest breasts he’d ever seen on a harpy. And he had seen a lot of topless female harpies when he lived in Almyra. In fact, she might have bigger breasts than some human women too. Which was doubly surprising, since harpies tended to have a smaller rack than humans. A lighter chest made it easier to fly. That was all.

The second thing was that Sothis not only recognized the Time's Flow Galdr, she supposedly made it. For the record, Claude didn't intend to discover this when he brought Byleth to his bathroom. He honestly wanted her to take a nice, fancy, deeply cleansing bath for her own sake. Then everything changed when he first laid eyes on Byleth’s symbol, the emblem she shared with the girl he couldn’t see. He thought that it was a Crest at first, but the calmness brought by the following preening and combing helped him recall a distant memory of his childhood. 

His father had requested the services of a specific siren who was shrouded in secrecy. Claude didn't know of her name, her origins, or even her appearance. The only notable detail about the drab robes she wore was a symbol made of winding curves, in the vague shape of a flower. Present day Claude realized that it was a stylized version of Byleth’s symbol, but Past Claude was more focused on the siren’s song. The Time's Flow Galdr was a dangerous spell that pierced the veil of time in order to see into the past, present, or future. It didn’t sound too hazardous out of context, but the Spirit of Time's Flow was a stubborn thing that did not want its domain to be altered. Whoever sang it required massive willpower, or else they would be torn apart by the fickle spirit. That was why the siren that visited his father that day had to hide her identity. No one but the king could use her song, for the safety of both the kingdom and the singer. Even Claude, who eavesdropped on the meeting in a special hiding spot, couldn’t make out the words that well. He could only remember the haunting melody that carved out a place in his memories.

And now this random harpy, noticeably not from Almyra, sang it without a problem. Well, without much of a problem, because falling asleep wasn’t a problem compared to the other consequences the Galdr could bring. Claude felt a little bad risking Byleth’s health to confirm a suspicion, but if she didn’t recognize it, there wouldn’t have been any harm to his humming. And now, thanks to his huge leap of logic, he all but solved the mystery of Byleth and the strange girl that lived in her head.

Or did he? As Claude drew the Crest-like symbol and wrote down the lyrics in his notebook, numerous questions spiraled around in his head. How did the Spirit of Time's Flow's insignia end up on Byleth’s chest and on Sothis's clothes? Was the insignia actually a Crest? The problem with that theory was that the other Crests of Fodlan and the symbols of other Almyran spirits didn’t correlate at all. And if Sothis truly was the Spirit of Time's Flow, wouldn’t she have power over time? Why would she even be stuck with Byleth in the first place? 

Claude’s mind buzzed with all the possible explanations to his new discovery. He had other guesses to Sothis's identity before, the most radical one being the Goddess of Fodlan according to an ancient book by an unknown author. This theory, however, blasted all the others out of the water with solid, concrete proof in the form of Time's Flow Galdr. Or did it? Was is possible that Sothis could be the Spirit of Time's Flow and other things? And, perhaps most importantly, could she still help him achieve what he came to Fodlan for, regardless of her true nature? 

It was tempting to ask Byleth and Sothis for their opinion, just to sort out this mess, but doing so would also admit that he had been lying to them this whole time. Using them, even. However he wanted to approach them, he had to do so soon. Byleth’s right wing was almost back to normal. Once she regained her ability to fly, she was going to disappear into the sky, sending him back to square one. He wouldn’t have minded this inevitability as much if she wasn’t the key to his dreams.

That was a problem for another time. Staying up all night, paralyzed with worries, wasn’t going to solve anything. All he could do now was set down his quill, blow out his lamp, and let the melody of the Time’s Flow Galdr soothe him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! The bath chapter somehow advances the plot too! Anyway I had fun writing this chapter for multiple reasons. I hope you guys enjoyed it too. :3


	18. A Dream of a Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Byleth faces an uncomfortable truth, she seeks answers from two men in her life.

With each passing day, Byleth’s right wing regained its muscles. She went from clumsily balancing herself on perches in Vaida’s room to jumping off and soaring between them. Of course, her exercises were a poor replacement for actual flight, but she took solace in knowing that she drew closer to that lofty goal with every flap of her wing.

Her returning strength also encouraged Claude to take her out on more expeditions. He claimed that practicing in a musty wyvern’s roost was all well and good, but it would be much better if she could practice out in the wilderness. After all, once she had fully recovered, Byleth would be spending most of her time out in nature. So on days he could afford it, he brought the harpy to the forest next to the von Riegan manor, the same forest where she took her joyride with Dayan. There, far away from prying eyes, she fluttered from tree to tree, while Claude watched closely with a hawk-like gaze and a faint smile upon his lips.

Honestly, Byleth felt ready to fly by now, but something held her back. It was a thought she didn't want to face, so she had hidden it below many other distractions. Yet it lurked, like a creature swimming at the bottom of a deep lake, and her impending moment of truth caused it to rise through the waters of her mind. 

What was she to do? She contemplated upon it one morning while waiting for Claude to pick her up. Her look of ponderance must have been visible because even Sothis, who had just awakened from her sleep, commented on it.

“What ails you, hatchling?” She asked with a yawn.

_ “I've been thinking about what I will do once I can fly again.” _ Byleth sighed inwardly.  _ “I was planning to find my human friend, but now..." _

She found herself unable to vocalize the rest of her worries. Sothis, however, picked up the meaning behind her words.

“Hm, well that is quite the conundrum.” She pressed her cheek against the palm of her right hand. “If you fly away to find your human friend, you'll not only leave this place, but also leave Claude behind. He cannot follow you wherever you go. He has duties on the ground, with the Golden Deer, with Cornwall, and with the Leicester Alliance.”

Those words made Byleth’s heart ache all over again. She had not wanted to voice them out loud, lest she made her heart worse, but now that Sothis was privy to her feelings, she couldn't ignore them any longer. Byleth couldn't expect a busy man like Claude to give up all his responsibilities for a harpy. He already spent so much of his time and patience healing her wing. To ask him to go even further, to travel with her to parts unknown, would be selfish of Byleth.

On the other hand, staying behind with Claude would mean forsaking her goal of finding her human friend. As much as she liked Claude, she couldn’t give up on that either. She felt like she had to find him, like it was an irrefutable part of her destiny. If she didn’t, she would burn with that restless heartache forever.

_ “What should I do, Sothis?” _ Byleth asked with a hint of pleading.

“I’m afraid that I cannot answer that for you.” Sothis’s emerald eyes held none of their jubilant sparkle. “Life consists of many hard choices. You cannot always fly with all the friends you’ve made. Sometimes, picking one means abandoning the other, and other times, the winds of fate will force you to fly alone. Worst of all, it’s difficult to tell what is the correct choice, if there is one. You won’t know what wind you fly on until it brings you to your future.”

_ “Not unless I get another vision.” _ Byleth mused. She had no idea how to trigger one, but it would certainly help her in her predicament right now. After all, her first and only vision led her to her reckless decision to save Claude. Yes, she broke her wing, but she also got to know Claude, the people surrounding him, and the clues that hinted towards Byleth’s and Sothis’s past. That was a decent trade-off in her opinion.

“I wouldn’t rely on that, hatchling. Who knows if visions truly are a power granted by our Crest? It may have been a one time thing.” Sothis scoffed. She clearly wasn’t of the same mind. “Learn to fly with your own two wings, instead of relying on such a whimsy ability.”

Byleth supposed she had to agree with her for now, mostly because Claude interrupted their conversation by showing up. “Good morning, ladies.” The easygoing, headband-wearing man gave her and Vaida a wave. Both of them descended from their perches to meet him.

“Good morning, Claude.” Byleth greeted him. She mustered as much excitement as she could into her voice, although it still turned out rather deadpan. “What will we be doing today?”

“We’re going to fly out to the forest again. But this time, we’re going to go hunting.” Claude answered. Then, after a pause, he added, “Well, Vaida and I will hunt. You can just watch. I think you’ll just end up scaring away prey if you tried.”

“That’s fair.” Byleth nodded. During the week or so before she met Claude, she was a fairly capable predator in her own right. Whenever she locked onto something from the skies, she would barrel down and grab her victim before it even realized she was there. But now, she obviously couldn’t do that, so she would have content herself with watching.

Byleth put on the white robes Claude gave her before going outside. The sun was just breaching the horizon, but she could tell it was going to be a nice day from the cloudless sky. Claude helped her onto Vaida’s back, then climbed on himself, then the wyvern took off into said sky with a flourish of wings.

The flight was brief, but enjoyable. Byleth closed her eyes at one point to savior the rushing wind that ruffled the feathers underneath her clothes. It wouldn’t be long now before she could fly like this, without the aid of someone else. Yet, since she now knew the reason behind her hesitation, she couldn’t appreciate the wind as much as she would have. This might be one of her last outings with Claude.

So she better make the most of it. The three of them landed in a small clearing with a familiar hunting shack. This time, his horse wasn’t around, but that was fine. As soon as Byleth dismounted, she took her robes off and left it near the shack. Claude barked some commands to Vaida, sending her back into the sky.

“Why did she leave?” Byleth blinked in puzzlement.

“Two hunters are better than one.” Claude replied as he readied his bow and quiver. “Wyverns typically don’t hunt in the forest, since they’re too big to maneuver through the trees. They’re actually more adept in barren mountains, where the stony terrain can’t hide prey from a giant predator like her. But since there aren’t any mountains around here, this forest will have to do. It’ll be a cinch with me anyways.”

Byleth could sympathize. She too struggled to both spot and catch prey in densely packed forests. Did that mean she was a mountain hunter as well? Before Byleth could dwell on that longer, Claude beckoned her to follow him quietly. The two of them trotted through the undergrowth, with Claude’s careful footsteps ahead of Byleth’s less careful steps. She tried her best to minimize her disruptions, but as a harpy, her gait was harder to mask by nature. If only she could fly, then she could avoid all these twigs and crispy leaves…

Actually, she could. When her loud footsteps halted, Claude turned around to see what stopped her. Byleth met his curious gaze before launching herself upwards. With each flap of her wings, the resulting gust kicked up some debris, but by the time she settled onto a branch, the forest regained its natural tranquility. Byleth could still see Claude from up here too. He gave her a thumbs up to wordlessly convey his approval.

Now Byleth floated from one tree branch to another, shaking a leaf to the ground on occasion. Her flight around tree trunks and her landings in general needed work, but she felt like she got the hang of things after several attempts. She at least wasn’t crashing into anything. With each successful flight, the distance she soared increased, until she was able to cover about 20 of Claude’s steps with one swoop. She could have kept going, but movement out of the corner of her eyes alerted her to a herd of deer not too far away.

“Claude.” She whispered to the man down below. He looked up, and she gestured in the direction of the deer.

Once he spotted what she noticed, he pulled out his bow and rested an arrow on its string. He tugged the arrow back, its dark brown feathers tickling his cheek, and waited. Byleth wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, but eventually, he didn’t wait any longer to release his arrow. It struck a deer’s side, right behind its front legs, felling it before it could bolt. The other deers were startled into a sprint, bounding over bushes and tree roots with ease. Claude ignored the body of his one deer to chase after the rest of the herd, even though Byleth couldn’t see how he could catch up to them. She followed them as well, her talons itching to dig into the prey that scattered into the forest floor, but she didn’t act on her instincts because she knew that her odds of actually catching one of them was abysmally low. Besides, Claude knew what he was doing, so she didn’t want to get in his way.

Their pursuit led them to a hill overlooking a bubbling brook. The deer herd, which had splintered into smaller numbers throughout the chase, scrambled down the rocks to escape from Claude, only to meet a giant shadow in the sky. Vaida pounced with such vigor and ferocity that impressed even Byleth. Her talons grabbed a particularly large doe and mangled it to death in an instant. The remaining deer scuttled backwards to get away from the dangerous predator, and scuttled right back into Claude’s range. He fired off a second arrow that struck yet another deer. Spurred by the sheer thrill of the chase, Byleth leaped from her tree to fly after the survivors, regardless if she could actually nab one or not. She glided for a good distance before her right wing threatened to give out. The harpy had to make a splash landing in the shallow stream in order to not crash into something worse. 

Even if she came up empty taloned, that was surprisingly more fun than Byleth had expected. She shook her feathers to dry herself, causing her to look very fluffy while she approached Claude. He looked up from his deer dressing to give her a smile. Vaida, meanwhile, ignored them both to tear into her catch. Byleth found herself staring at the deer guts Claude discarded, only for them to disappear before her eyes when the greedy wyvern snapped them up too.

“Don’t worry, Byleth. There’s another deer back in the forest that you can have.” Claude chuckled. Did she look that distraught, or did he just guess what she was thinking? Either way, Claude motioned for her to take a seat on Vaida’s back. Once he loaded the deer carcass beside her, he climbed aboard himself and pressed the wyvern into flight. The three of them made it back to the first deer in record time, and Claude jumped off to dress it immediately.

As he promised, he left the second set of deer entrails for Byleth, even going so far as to hold Vaida’s drooling jaws back. Byleth dug into them with glee, not caring that she bloodied her recently cleaned chestplate. There was nothing that compared to freshly slain meat, nothing at all. Above her, Sothis hovered like a displeased ghost and tsked at her messy feeding. 

But not because she was concerned about Byleth’s chestplate. “You know, you’ll have to hunt on your own again when you leave. I do hope that you’re better than that sad display back there. If that’s all you're capable of, then we’re going to starve to death.”

Byleth paused with bites of liver in her mouth. Luckily for her, she can talk to Sothis through her mind, sparing Claude from a spray of blood and saliva.  _ “I am aware. I just need more practice And I haven’t decided if I’m going to leave yet.” _

“Hmph. You can’t keep putting off your decision. Breaking the news to Claude right before you leave would be downright rude.” Sothis paused before her eyes lit up in an inspired way. “I have an idea. Why not ask Claude for his opinion?”

Byleth froze again while holding the rest of the half-eaten liver. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind because she was afraid of what Claude would think. She didn’t want him to despair over her departure like her.

“Don’t worry about that.” Sothis interjected her thoughts like she was fully aware of them. “Claude is a smart boy. I’m sure he’s already aware of what your flight means. It would be better to talk about this now, while we have a moment of peace to ourselves.”

That was a good point. Byleth turned to Claude, who was leaning against Vaida and watching her ravage into the leftover meat. When their gaze met, his green eyes flickered with concern.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“... There’s something I’ve been thinking about.” Byleth’s tongue felt heavy in her mouth, but she had to discuss this, despite her trepidations. “How would you feel if I left?”

All levity drained from Claude’s face, leaving behind a hollow smile that didn’t cheer her up in the slightest. “Well, I always knew that you’re going to fly away someday. A harpy like you shouldn’t be cooped up in an aviary all the time. It’s only natural that you want to get away from here.”

“See? I told you.” Sothis said with smug satisfaction.

“But how do you  _ feel _ ?” Byleth repeated, placing emphasis on her last word. She was more anxious about that than confirmation of Sothis’s suspicions.

“I’m prepared for it.” Claude said in a manner that shrugged off her worries. “Seriously, there’s no need for you to work yourself up over little old me. You have your human friend to find and memories to recover. I don’t know how much more I can help you with them, especially since I can’t exactly leave all my responsibilities behind.”

Byleth found herself a little miffed by his response. It sounded like he wasn’t terribly heartbroken over their potential parting. Maybe he had steeled himself for a long time, to the point that he couldn’t show any regret if he tried. Or maybe he never really cared about her in the first place. That possibility drove a stake through her heart, wounding it more than she thought it would.

Her heart only bled more when Claude continued to speak in a nonchalant manner. “In fact, I got you something to give you before you leave. Let’s see, where did I put it…”

He reached into his bag laying on the dirt and rifled through his various possessions. It took him awhile to find what he was looking for, either because he really did have trouble finding it or because he wanted to amuse Byleth with a show. Soon enough, he pulled out a notebook with leather covers and worn pages, indicating its heavy use.

“What’s that?”

“It’s my notebook. I know this is going to sound kinda creepy, maybe a lot creepy, but I’ve been recording everything about you in hopes of piecing together all the clues. Admittedly, I haven’t made much progress, but I think I got a good lead to go on.”

Claude flipped the pages open to a folded piece of paper tucked inside. He unfolded the paper to reveal a map of Fodlan with handwritten notes all over it. Byleth studied the map, and noticed several names of regions were circled, with the biggest circle over the mountain range in the middle of the land.

“You’ve noticed it too, huh?” Claude smirked. “The mountains I highlighted are called the Oghma Mountains. It used to house a pretty decent sized harpy flock, big enough to warrant some mentions in my book. The only problem is that they were wiped out around 30 years ago. No one’s seen any signs of them since then.

“Still, I think it’s worth looking into. You were found near the Airmid River, and the source of the river lies within the Oghma Mountains. You can start there and work your way downstream, looking for anything that might jog your memory. Who knows? Maybe you’ll stumble upon some remnant of the flock. Even if you were never a part of them, they might be able to point you in a better direction. Then there’s still the matter of your human friend. I think he’s a knight, from what you told me, but a knight wouldn’t have any reason to go into the Oghma Mountains, since it's unclaimed by any nation. So I still have no idea how he’s connected to you…”

Claude kept on talking while showing her the various notes in his notebook. As it turned out, he not only documented Byleth’s recollection of her human friend, but other minor details about the harpy herself. Eating habits, literacy level, skills and abilities, lyrics to Sothis’s songs, Sothis in general, and on the very most recent pages, the mysterious symbol on her chest. Byleth was both impressed and freaked out at how much he recorded. Some of his notes weren't even things she divulged out loud. They were things that Claude's sharp eyes noticed during their many meetings. She had seen him jotting down notes in the open before, but she didn’t expect this level of detail. 

“Anyway, I hope this helps you out on your travels. Oh, and there’s a pencil strapped to the spine so you can write down your own thoughts too.” Claude pointed out said writing tool before handing the notebook over to Byleth. 

Byleth stared down at it dumbfoundedly. This was too much to take in at once. She knew that Claude meant well, but it felt like he was giving her more reasons to leave than to stay. The notebook, which was supposed to aid her, instead felt heavy in her wing talons. Did that mean she wanted to stay after all? Despite her feelings, she couldn’t answer that for certain. If Byleth decided against leaving, then all of the work Claude put into the notebook, into healing her wing, would be all for naught. She would be denying Sothis the opportunity to find out why she was stuck in her head. And truthfully, she couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing her human friend. Yet, she couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Claude again either. Her bleeding heart remained torn on the subject, and weighed her tongue down so much, she didn't know what to say.

“Claude.” She ended up uttering.

“Yeah? What’s the matter?”

“I know you said you’re prepared. But… will you be sad, too?”

Claude froze in place. The only sounds between them were Vaida’s steady breathing and the rustle of leaves on the wind. And, to Byleth’s ears only, the chittering of one flabbergasted girl.

“Amazing. You really know how to guilt trip people.” Sothis remarked.

_ “I didn’t mean to guilt trip him. I just wanted a straightforward answer.” _

”Yeah. I think I will be.” Claude interrupted. He tried to plaster another smile over his melancholy expression, but it couldn’t also hide the sorrow in his voice. “You’re really interesting, you know? And you’re also… really kind, and a great listener. I’m going to miss having you around.”

Sothis glued her eyes on him and leaned forward with unprecedented interest. “Is this a confession of sorts?!”

“But my feelings shouldn’t stop you from leaving.” Claude’s shift in tone instantly killed the mood, like an arrow that struck a deer through its heart. “I can tell how important your human friend is to you, and I don’t want to deter you from him. Besides, you don’t have to leave forever. You can still stop by and tell me how things are going. In fact, I would like to be updated once in a while, especially if you do find other harpies in the Oghma Mountains. When it’s convenient, of course. You can’t just drop in out of the blue and scare everyone witless.”

Byleth nodded. She was glad that he admitted something to her, and his addendum did sound logical. But judging from how her heart still bled, that wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. So what was?

She hugged the notebook against her chest. All she could say was, “Thank you, Claude.”

“You’re welcome.” That fake smile crept up on his face again. “Although, it looks like I’ll need to wash your chestplate before you leave. You can’t look like a murderer when you finally reunite with your friend.”

Byleth was about to retort back, saying that she can wash her own clothes, but instead replied with a casual shrug. “Only if you will preen me again.”

“Now that’s a deal I can accept.” Claude grinned. “Come on, let’s go home before the others wonder if I died in a ditch somewhere.”

* * *

That night, she dreamed of a man with his back turned towards her.

Byleth called out his name, but she couldn’t hear what she said. The man spun around to greet her anyway. He was a rugged human, with tan hair peppered with grey, wise brown eyes, and wrinkles and scars all over his face. His broad shoulders and well-defined muscles gave him an intimidating silhouette, but a warm expression softened his features and put Byleth at ease.

“What’s the matter, kid?” He asked. His husky voice held the same warmth as his face. 

That warmth coaxed Byleth’s true feelings out of her heart. “I don’t know what to do. I want to stay, but I also want to leave.”

“Ah. I figured you’d feel conflicted about this.” The man sat down on a chair that suddenly materialized in her dream space. “Let me start by saying that they’re not really that close to you. Not like me. You don’t owe them your presence, or anything else.”

Byleth nodded. Sometimes, it felt like she barely knew Claude. His secrets were buried so deeply, she could only scratch the surface, only for him to repair his barriers with lies and half-truths. How could she think about sacrificing everything else to stay with a man that didn’t trust her wholly?

“But you still like him, don’t you? Despite everything he’s done?” 

“Yes.” Byleth stated without hesitation.

“You like him enough to give up the chance to know who you really are?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t know the answer to that.”

“Yeah, it’s a tricky question, isn’t it?” The man leaned back and sighed. “You know, when I met her, I gave up a lot of things too. There were some days when I regretted what I’ve done, but when I laid my eyes upon that beautiful face, all those regrets melted away. You know why?”

Byleth shook her head. If Sothis was eavesdropping, she would probably be laughing at her obliviousness right now.

“It’s because she was my wife. Money, fame, glory, secrets, all that pales in comparison to someone that will stick with you thick and thin. It sounds too good to be true, I know, but that's just how love works.”

The man’s speech made her face burn furiously. She was blushing so hard, she had trouble forming her protests. “Are you- Are you saying that I love Claude?”

“Well, I’m not you, so I can’t decide that for you.” He wore a cheeky grin as he spoke. “And I can’t decide that for him either. Although if I had things my way, I wouldn’t let that boy anywhere near you.”

Byleth stared at him blankly. He shook his head and laughed away his poor joke. “I was just kidding. Anyway, from my point of view, there’s something special between the two of you. Strange, but special. I wouldn’t let that go so easily. You might never find it again if you do. Besides, he’s a clever lad. He can probably find a way to stay by your side.”

“How? He said he couldn’t.” Byleth frowned a bit. If they didn’t have to be separated, then she wouldn’t be agonizing over this dilemma in the first place.

“He said that, but I’d bet good money that he’s having this same argument in his head. Of course, as the nephew of Duke Riegan and all that, he can’t just up and leave with you. But he’s definitely a resilient kid, and full of tricks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls something out of his ass to fix this mess.”

“So you think I should stay, in case Claude does figure something out…” Byleth muttered. Something about that answer didn’t feel right, even though this man laid out several good reasons to accept it.

“Well, I wouldn’t pin your hopes on that.” The man hurriedly backtracked. “I would follow what your heart says instead.”

“I told you, I don’t know how to feel.”

“And I told you that I can’t tell you how to feel.” He refuted. “But your heart can. Listen to that, and you’ll never be steered wrong.”

The man pointed at the chestplate that he gave her. Byleth glanced down, his advice floating around her mind like feathers drifting on a breeze. Everything about this conversation was hard to understand. She wasn’t sure if she came anywhere closer to a decision. But when she weighed her options, she felt her heart thump more for one branch of fate, as opposed to the other. And if this man suggested to follow her heart…

“What about you? Will you be alright?” Byleth lifted her chin to meet his serene gaze.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. No matter what you choose, I’ll support you.” He nodded. “It sounds like you made your decision then?”

“I think so.” Byleth pressed her wing talons against her chest, which still pounded away with anticipation. Now she was going to have to break the news to Claude somehow. She was admittedly a bit scared about his reaction, but if her heart could guide her to the right path, she was sure it could also give her everything she needed for their much-needed conversation.

“Good.” The man patted her on the head enthusiastically, tousling her blue hair until it looked like a bird’s nest. “Remember what I said now. Follow your heart. I only wish I could give you better advice, after being apart from you for so long.”

“But now we won’t be apart anymore.” Byleth said, the corners of her lips turning upwards. “Thank you… for everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you guys can guess what the next chapter will be about. :') Also if you noticed that Byleth's dream conversation was a bit off in some areas, it's intentional. There's more to that part that won't be revealed until later~ Although I'm sure you can figure out who the man in Byleth's dream is lol.


	19. A Dance in the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude thinks this might be the first and last time he flies with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe that I missed it last chapter but we reached 100k words! Hurray! When I set out to write this I didn't anticipate writing this much. And we're still not even close to finishing! I hope that my inspiration doesn't peter out and that you guys know that you're in it for the long haul lmao.
> 
> Anyway I've been meaning to post this chapter earlier but it took quite a bit of editing and also work was busy. But here we are now!

The sky was an endless sea of bright blue, speckled with white, fluffy clouds both big and small. A gentle breeze swayed the tall grass and the leaves on trees. The sun hung high above, warming the denizens of the earth with its brilliant rays. All and all, it was the perfect day for goodbyes. Claude was glad that the sky spirit afforded him this much, when his heart pounded with anxiety for what was to come.

“Are you ready, Byleth?” He asked the harpy next to her. She glanced back to him with a mostly blank expression. He said mostly blank, because there were hints of excitement if he looked closely enough. Her indigo eyes glimmered in the sunlight, her lips were graced by a faint smile, and she held her wings slightly above her waist, as if she couldn’t wait to use them.

“I’m ready.” Even her voice barely contained her anticipation. She really came a long way from the scared, quiet, and injured harpy that he met on their first night, illuminated by his lantern’s glow. Not only did Byleth become more comfortable around Claude, Claude grew more familiar with Byleth, to the point where he could read her minute signs of emotions like a book.

It was too bad that he wouldn’t be able to witness her develop her emotions further. They sequestered themselves out here, in a grassy meadow, so Byleth could practice real flight. Once she achieved that, then there was nothing that could stop her from flying off into the realm of blue, leaving behind all earthly ties. Despite this, Claude flashed her a smile and beckoned her onto Vaida’s back. Byleth followed him obediently, perhaps for the last time. As soon as the two of them were securely seated, Claude flicked his reins. With a short roar, his white wyvern leaped upwards and flapped her wings. The resulting lift propelled her up and up until she soared high above the treetops.

The winds blew harder in the sky, yanking at Claude’s headband and chilling him through his thick outfit for flight. He didn’t mind the temperature or the blustery gusts though. They were just reminders of where he was, where he ought to be. He turned around to see how Byleth was doing. It looked like she thought the same about the winds because her smile had grown in size and her eyes were fixated on the expanse of blue around her. Not on him.

“You can take off any time.” Claude told her. His words brought her back to reality, but only for a moment. Byleth’s eyes locked onto Claude, to make sure that he was watching her, and then spread out her wings. Her pinions quivered in the rushing wind, making it hard for her to keep her balance on Vaida’s shifting back. 

That was just more motivation to take the plunge. Byleth let go of her grip on the straps she previously clung to. Her feathery body fell away from Vaida. Even though this was part of the plan, Claude still grinded his teeth and gripped Vaida’s reins tightly. He resisted every urge to dive after her, although he wouldn’t hold himself back if she was actually in trouble. Right now, he just had to let her do her thing.

Byleth plummeted to the ground for a sickening second. Her wings slowed her descent, but she was still falling. It wasn’t until she gave them a strong flap, and then another flap, that she started maintaining her altitude. And then gained altitude. Her wings caught a thermal that launched her upwards, back towards Claude, until she leveled herself out and soared alongside him.

“Claude!” She shouted with unprecedented exuberance. “I’m flying!”

“You’re flying!” Claude yelled back, and then cheered. Byleth returned his whoop with a resonating call with melodious undertones that soon morphed into that wondrous laugh of hers. Claude had never seen her so happy before, but he did not mind seeing this new side of her at all. In fact her joy chased away all of his doubts. The two of them were so loud, the blustery winds couldn't drown them out. Even Vaida joined in the choir with a happy growl akin to a purr.

The two flying figures soared through the air, bobbing and weaving and making small dips, only to rise again in unison. Claude, being the expert wyvern rider he was, easily matched Byleth’s movements by guiding his mount with gentle touches and stern pulls of her reins alike. Vaida was so in tune with his intuition, he almost flew like a harpy. Almost. He yearned for such sensations ever since he was little, but without wings of his own, he couldn’t feel the wind’s caress against his feathers, nor its motherly embrace lifting him high into the sky. He only knew of its cold sting that was reserved for landbound beings. A part of Claude was jealous of how euphoric Byleth was when she flew. She belonged here, among the clouds, while Claude had to borrow wings from another being in order to join her. But her mirth was contagious and acted as a ward against his envy. All he had to do was watch her soar and laugh and smile, and then he too was laughing and smiling with her.

Time passed in a blink of an eye. How long had it been since they took off? The sun was still overhead, so they still had a bit longer with each other. By now, Byleth had completely regained her flight instincts, and was eager to show them off.

“Claude! Look at this!” She called out to him. Byleth twirled like a spinning top before ending her flourish with a magnificent spread of her wings. 

"Nice!" Claude shouted at her. "But you're not the only one that can do that!"

He tapped Vaida where her left wing connected to her body and uttered a command. The wyvern growled and winged upwards towards the sun. She flew slowly at first, in order to straighten her trajectory, then flapped her left wing inward to rotate her body. Claude clung to her saddle with all his might as she spun around and around in a loose imitation of Byleth's twirl. It was a good thing that she only did a loose imitation, because he wasn't sure if he could stay on if she whirled any faster.

Vaida ended her maneuver by stretching her wings out to catch a wind that halted her spinning. Claude lurched in his seat, but remained in place, to not undermine his performance. As he shot a smug look towards Byleth, he hoped that the harpy was both impressed by his trick and didn't ask him to do it again. To his relief, Byleth gave him a smile that told him all he needed to know.

They continued to dance in the sky, pulling off fancier and fancier moves to outdo each other. Or more like, Byleth pulled off fancy moves while Claude watched and occasionally copied her as best he could on wyvern back. Byleth's agility and speed far out surpassed Vaida's, as expected of a lithe harpy. She flipped herself over and over, did loop-de-loops, and tumbled and twirled in the air. Whenever Vaida tried to mimic those, she had to fly more carefully and make broader turns, in consideration for the rider on her back.

Although her moves weren't exactly the same, Claude was reminded of some sky dances the harpies in Almyra would perform. Byleth shared the same joy and passion as those performers, as evident by her fervent flight and the remarkable smile on her face. Really, the only thing that was missing from this routine was a risky maneuver that could only be done with two harpies. In that special dance, the pair held onto each other's talons and stilled their wings. They would then descend in a freefall, their bodies spiraling until they were only a few feet away from the harsh ground. Just before they met an untimely demise, the harpies would separate and flap their wings to lift themselves back up. Such a maneuver required complete trust from both parties, so if a couple was able to survive it, then, well...

Byleth's voice interrupted his thoughts of home. "Let's race! I want to see who's faster!" 

"I'm not about to lose this! You're on!" Claude yelled back with equal zeal. 

His words heralded the start of the race. Byleth took off like an arrow, morphing into a grey blur against the blue skies. Claude squeezed Vaida’s sides to make her fly faster, and she compiled by straightening out her neck and tail. He flattened himself too, letting the winds flow around his body unhindered. The harpy and the wyvern rider matched each other in speed at first, flying side by side with neither one gaining a noticeable advantage. Occasionally, someone would find a good wind and edge ahead of their opponent, but the other flyer would catch up with a burst of speed. 

However, after a few minutes of high-powered flying, Byleth poured her remaining strength into her wings and accelerated forward. Claude did a double take at her sudden lead, but recomposed himself to press Vaida onwards. He couldn't let Byleth win without a fight, not even when she shrunk into a not-so-distant speck that hurtled towards a large, low hanging cloud.

Despite his competitive spirit, Claude found himself hesitating. She probably aimed to lose him inside the cloud, even though it went against the instincts of most fliers. A cloud's placid exterior hid freezing cold temperatures that would challenge even the toughest of fliers, especially wyverns. They were more tolerant of freezing temperatures than other reptiles, thanks to their aerial lifestyle, but they were still cold-blooded. Which meant Vaida was going to struggle when she chased after Byleth through a floating mass of frozen air and water.

He couldn't waffle over his choice any longer. The harpy soared into the cloud headfirst, leaving behind swirls in the fog that hid all traces of her. Shaking away all lingering doubt, Claude urged Vaida after her and into the cloud. As soon as they entered, Claude’s vision was obscured by the thick, colorless haze and biting cold. Vaida shuddered underneath him. He gave her a soothing pat to keep her going. 

There was no sign of ashen grey feathers anywhere. Claude kept flying forward, determined to at least make it through the cloud. This was just a race. Byleth wouldn't take the opportunity to leave him behind during a friendly contest, right? She didn't want to leave him that badly, right? He probably just couldn't find her because the cloud was so thick. And yet… The somber truth that haunted him since the beginning still overshadowed his present hopes.

Claude kept silently reassuring himself, even when Byleth was nowhere in sight, until he reached the edge of the cloud. When he and Vaida burst through the other side, they were greeted by warm sunlight and blue skies, but no harpy. He willed himself not to panic as he soared, eyes darting frantically to scan his empty surroundings.

"Byleth? Where did you go?" He called out, only to receive silence in response.

Claude wheeled around the general vicinity again and laughed nervously. "So did you get bored with the race and want to play hide and seek instead? Well, you win. I'm impressed that you can hide from me in the sky, where there's not many places to hide you…"

His attention was drawn to the white, fluffy cloud behind him. He hated to subject Vaida to another flight through airborne ice and frosty winds, but that was the only place left to search for Byleth. With an apology under his breath, Claude pressed Vaida into a wide turn and flew back into the cloud. He had to fly slower, in order to thoroughly search the space around him, but by doing so, he subjected his wyvern to the plummeting temperatures longer. Even he was beginning to feel the chill through his thick clothes.

"Seriously Byleth, where are you?!" Claude shouted again. He strained his ears and eyes for an answer, but he only heard the howling winds blowing around him.

They couldn't stay here much longer. Snow crystals were starting to form on his clothes and Vaida’s scales. The wyvern grumbled and quivered, her flight becoming shaky. Claude brushed some of the frost off of her, both as reassurance and as guidance. He resolved to give the cloud one last look over, and give his voice one last try too. 

"BYLETH!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed at the top of his lungs. The icy air that he inhaled sent sharp pain throughout his chest. Still, he persevered through it by keeping his mind off the pain by listening closely to the winds around him. 

No response. No hint of movement around him, save for Vaida’s shuddering. They were all alone. Did this mean she was gone for good? With great reluctance, he pulled Vaida into a dive. The two of them dethawed the moment they left the cloud behind them, giving Claude enough peace of mind to look around some more. 

Still no sign of Byleth. He didn’t want to give up, but the longer he searched, the heavier his heart grew. Earlier, he had told her that he was prepared for her departure, but he never thought that she would leave him behind so suddenly. There were still so many things he wanted to say, about her, Sothis, and himself…

His heart eventually became too heavy for sustained flight. Claude lowered his wyvern towards the earth, and groaned in resignation as soon as their feet touched the ground. Vaida sprawled out in the green grass to warm herself in the sunlight. When he glanced over to the bag he left behind, he realized there were many things he needed to give to Byleth too. She had left her notebook behind, for one.

The distraught man sat down next to Vaida and rubbed her behind her antlers. “Well, I guess you get to have your room to yourself again.” He mumbled.

Vaida sensed her master’s grief, and offered condolences by grumbling in a loud and light-hearted manner. She shifted her head so that Claude’s hand would stroke her snout instead.

“Thanks, girl. At least I know someone who won’t ever leave me.”

His half-joke fell flat on the ground. Claude didn’t mean to regard Byleth so bitterly. He knew that this day would come ever since the beginning. He could never begrudge a harpy, a being of the air, for choosing the skies over the land. Even if she did choose to stay with Claude, it would never work out. She would have to spend the rest of her days locked up in secrecy, in a place that would kill her if she was ever found out. Claude could never condone such an existence. It would be torture, plain and simple, compared to what he was going through.

Besides, she still had her human friend to find. This man, who taught her so many things, was more important to her than he could ever be. Claude seemed so insignificant in comparison, since he only knew Byleth for about a month. And what did he do with her during that month? Lie to her, snooped into her past for his own gains, fixed her wing so she could fly to someplace he couldn’t reach. Yeah, she was probably better off without him, a weirdo that couldn’t open up to her when she opened up to him without hesitation.

That was enough self-pity for today. Byleth was gone. Claude just had to deal with that and pick up his life where he left off. Once he was thoroughly warmed up, he stood up and stretched his limbs. He was about to put everything away, when his eyes briefly glanced upwards and caught a circling black dot in the sky.

Claude stared at it in disbelief. It couldn’t be Byleth. Yet there was no mistaking that shadow as it rapidly descended. The ashen grey harpy landed right next to him in a gusty flurry of feathers that blew the ends of Claude’s headband back.

His dumbfoundedness didn’t disappear, not even when she was right there. “You came back.” He stated like an awestruck, slack jawed idiot.

“I did.” Byleth nodded, as if her return was no big deal.

The two of them regarded each other with silence. Claude usually filled that awkward void pretty quickly, but right now his mind wasn’t working correctly. Byleth? Was here? There must be a reason why. Like her notebook. Without it, she wouldn’t know where to go.

“You left your notebook behind.” Claude told her. Thankfully, he regained some of his charisma, so he didn’t sound completely foolish.

“... What?” Byleth blinked.

“Your notebook, filled with my thoughts about your past and stuff. I have it right here.” 

Claude peeled his eyes away to dig into his bag. He found her notebook soon enough and pressed it into her wing talons without a second thought.

Yet, Byleth wasn’t entirely satisfied. “Claude-” She started to say, but the aforementioned man had other things on his mind.

“Oh, right. You need a bag to carry it in. You can’t fly and carry it in your wings at the same time. My bad.” He whirled back around to look for a small purse that was both sturdy and aerodynamic. Did he even have something like that? Before he could tear his own bag apart from his search, a sharp voice startled him.

“Claude!”

“Yeah?” He faced Byleth again. She may have gotten his attention, but she still hesitated to find the right words. Claude stayed quiet throughout, waiting to hear what she had to say.

“I’m staying with you.”

Claude froze in place, with an easy smirk still on his lips. Although the world was silent, save for the warm breeze around them, Claude’s ears were filled with blood rushing to his brain. He found it hard to form a response when the expectations he made, the barriers he had erected all around his heart, all came crashing down with an enormously loud implosion.

“You’re… staying…?” He managed to mumble out.

Byleth nodded vigorously. “I thought about what to do, and I’ve decided to stay because I like… I like it here.”

Her quiet words were a lifesaver thrown into the water. The drowning Claude quickly latched onto that in order to recover. “Oh, well I can’t blame you. Cornwall is peaceful, without many invaders or bandits or natural disasters. I can’t say the same for the rest of the world. But what about your human friend?”

“I still want to look for him. But I don’t really have a lot of clues to his whereabouts.” Byleth replied while clutching her notebook tighter. “Just thinking about scouring the Oghma Mountains for one person makes me tired. So... You and I could try to figure out more things together, instead.”

“As long as you know that I can’t actually come with you when the time comes, then yeah. That works.” Claude said in a controlled voice. Despite his relaxed outward appearance, he was secretly elated that she chose to come back. He did wonder for a moment if, as an amnesiac, she decided to stay with Claude because he was the only life she had ever known. But no, she had Sothis with her, who wasn’t exactly blind to Claude’s cleverness. Byleth also demonstrated many times that she wasn’t afraid to go against him to suit her whims.

As long as he reassured himself that Byleth was here on her own free will, it wouldn’t hurt to get excited to the new possibilities her stay would bring. Claude would help her find her human friend, of course, but he could also unravel more enigmas surrounding her and Sothis. Maybe he might actually solve the whole damn thing. And maybe (this was a big maybe), he could finally reveal a bit about himself, so he wouldn’t feel so guilty lying to her all the damn time.

“But I was wondering, where did you go during the race?” Claude was starting to sound like his old self the more he spoke.

Byleth paused, obviously considering her next words carefully. “... I got lost.”

“Lost? Really?”

“I flew so far ahead, I couldn’t see you from where I was. Then I lost track of the clouds, and…”

She trailed off, uncertain on how to phrase herself. Claude laughed and waved a hand, indicating that no further explanation was needed. “You made your way back, so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

What mattered now was the next step. Was she going to stick with him until her memory was complete enough to actually begin her search? Surprisingly, he didn’t find himself hating the thought, but his mind soon came up with many problems about the logistics. First and foremost, Claude didn’t want to shove her back into Vaida’s room. The hiding place worked out well for them for the past month, but he didn’t want to push his luck. So where could he house her? Or was she just going to live in the wilderness and he was going to visit her whenever he had a moment to spare? That wasn’t mentioning how risky it was to stay so close to humans, even though she was moving someplace farther away.

“Claude?” Byleth’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind me staying?” Her violet-blue eyes flicked downwards. “I know you were expecting me to leave, so if it’s too much trouble-”

“Oh! No! You can stay if you want!” Claude blurted out while slapping a smile on his face. He meant what he said for once. He just didn’t want to sound overenthusiastic because she might begin to wonder why he sounded so excited.

Claude quickly changed the subject before either of them could dwell on that awkward topic longer. “I was just thinking about your new living arrangements. I’m sure that you and Vaida became the best of buds, but if you’re going to stay, then you can’t really live with her any longer. There are too many risks with housing you so close to humans. I only shoved you in there to keep a close eye on your wing. Now that you’re fine, you should move somewhere with less people.”

“I understand. Where will I go?”

“Actually, I just thought of the perfect place for you. Since we should be taking care of your new living quarters before night falls, do you want to see it now?”

“Yes. Of course.” Byleth nodded as hard as she could. Claude chuckled at her eagerness as he strapped his bag to Vaida’s back. It felt strange, not having to help the harpy onboard, but it was a win-win situation for all parties involved. His poor wyvern didn’t have to carry as much weight, Claude didn’t have to worry for her safety, and he was sure that Byleth enjoyed every chance she got to soar in the skies.

Before they left the meadow behind them, Byleth lingered behind for a brief moment. Claude shot her a quizzical look from atop his saddle. She replied back with a statement that touched his heart.

“Claude, thank you for letting me stay.”

“You’re welcome. And…” The rest of his sentence got caught in his throat. He wasn’t used to voicing anything that came from his heart, especially nothing as personal as this. But if he vowed to stop lying to her, then he should stop lying to himself too, and actually start upholding all these vows.

“Thank you for coming back to me.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As interesting as it would be for Byleth to ditch Claude at this point, I couldn't do it. Still, I had to put in some drama~
> 
> Next chapter might require a lot of editing so if I take a while to post it you know why.


	20. A Mob of Crows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth tries to handle a problem of her new home by herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! It took a while to edit this chapter and I felt like writing other stuff. On the plus side, I have quite a bit of backlog to post so the next few chapters should be coming out more quickly.

Byleth and Claude flew a short distance, together, to reach a familiar hunting shack in the woods. She was honestly a bit surprised that this was supposed to be her new home. It was a bit far away from the von Riegan estate, requiring at least five minutes of flight and however many minutes of travel on foot. And yet, at the same time, she wasn’t completely shocked. The hut was in good condition for being so far into the forest and so far out of the way, with only a smidge of moss and ivy growing on its wooden exterior. More importantly, not many people ventured by it. The only thing that would prevent her from staying here was if it was somehow less comfortable than a wyvern’s sand-filled roost.

Which it wasn’t, thankfully. Although it came close. As soon as Claude unlocked the doors, something small and black shot straight at him. 

“Gah!” He yelped and swatted at whatever was in his face. The black thing backed off with a flap of its wings, revealing itself to be an aggressive crow with only one good eye. It cawed at both Claude and Byleth as it sped around the room in tight circles, occasionally bumping into the furniture. Claude kept on shooing it away by waving his hands, but he didn’t succeed in driving it out of the cabin until he managed to reach the closed windows and flung them open. The crow gave them one last haughty squawk before leaving.

“How did he get in here?” Byleth stared after the crow’s dwindling shadow in the sky.

“Through the chimney? That would be my best guess. You’re welcome, by the way.” Claude brushed off some dirt that got on him from the chase. “Hopefully he didn’t make too much of a mess around here.”

Now that there wasn’t anyone harassing them, Byleth could take in the single, spacious room with her eyes. It definitely showed signs of disuse, with a thick layer of dust on all the furniture and cobwebs billowing in tight spaces. Whoever used it last didn’t make much of an effort to keep things organized. In one corner was a random assortment of tools and equipment, like ropes, lanterns, and empty quivers. In another corner were various clothes that were tossed carelessly onto the floor instead of hanged on hooks or filed into boxes. At least the other two corners were tidy enough, being occupied by a minimalist cot or a wooden table with chairs. Byleth dragged the tips of her wings across the table’s surface, leaving behind a clean mark in the dust. 

“When was the last time someone was here? Besides the crow.” She asked.

“Honestly? I can’t recall. I’m the only person that comes here with some regularity.” Claude shrugged. “This part of the forest isn’t easily accessible by foot, but it’s the perfect hunting grounds for someone with a restless wyvern. Even then, I don’t use this place much. I never really spend _that_ much time out here.”

Byleth should have figured that this place mostly belonged to Claude. It certainly had his signature messiness, a trait she gleaned from her brief glimpse of his bedroom. She wondered if she could spot any more interesting characteristics of his by rifling through his possessions. Fueled by curiosity, Byleth wandered over to the corner filled with stuff and sorted through it with her talons. At first glance, everything seemed generic, but she did manage to find an old quiver with strange markings on it. 

She turned around to show it to Claude. It seemed like something that would belong to him. “Is this yours?”

“Hm?” He glanced up from his own mess in a different corner. His expression brightened upon seeing the object. “Oh, yeah. That’s one of my old quivers. I was wondering where it went. Thanks for finding it for me!”

Claude snatched it out of her talons without hesitation. Of course Byleth wanted to give it back to him, but she couldn't help but notice how eager he was to take it. Before she could comment upon it, he immediately switched to another topic.

“This place could use a bit of work, but it isn't that bad.” Claude spread out a moth-eaten blanket with a flick of his wrists. His movements kicked up more dust that sparkled like glitter in the rays of light. “Do you like it here, Byleth?”

“Hmph. I would have preferred to stay in Vaida’s roost.” Sothis chittered in a corner. As she couldn’t help with the clean-up efforts, she sat in a chair and regarded her filthy surroundings with narrowed eyes.

Byleth ignored the girl’s remarks to reply, “It’s fine.”

“Glad to hear it. Because if you didn’t want to stay here, I’m not sure where else you could go. I suppose you could just camp out in the wilderness, but it’s safer to have a roof over your head. And, unlike before, you’re free to come and go as you please.”

Claude gestured to the opened window. Byleth hopped onto the windowsill, just to see if it would fit her, and stuck her head out into the fresh air. She breathed in the scent of nature in order to get rid of the dust clogging up her nose. Admittedly, she wouldn’t have minded living among the trees. She had done so before meeting Claude. But Byleth was also open to trying out this cabin, for the sake of safety. If she didn’t like it, she was sure she could tell Claude and have something else arranged.

“It has all the comforts of home too.” Claude continued on while picking up some of the fallen objects. “You got a bed, a fireplace, and… other stuff. We just need to sort them out.”

He gazed at the mess in equal measures of optimism and frustration before resuming his work. Byleth didn't know whether to speak up to stop him. She technically didn’t need a bed to sprawl out on, since her wings were too fragile to lay on top of and her feathers would just get messed up from the tossing and turning. She was content to sit or perch on anything solid. Even the floor was fine, as she often used in Vaida’s room.

“Look at what I found!” Claude’s excitement drew her attention. He held up a fishing rod similar to the one she used several weeks ago. “You know how to fish, right? I bet you can put this to good use.”

“I can.” Byleth said, only to be disregarded when Claude rummaged through more of the mess and pulled out more items of interest.

“And we also got a bucket, spare lines, and even a few bobbers. This should be everything you need.” He eagerly placed them on the table, showing them off like a magpie presenting its horde of shinies. 

Truthfully, Byleth didn’t think she needed all these extra bits while fishing, but she appreciated them all the same. “Yes, I should be able to fish with these. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Claude responded back with a small smile. “I imagine fishing will be a nice change of pace from hunting. It’s a lot less cutthroat and more relaxing, and you still get food out of it.”

Byleth nodded in agreeance. This fishing rod would supplement her diet nicely, although she hoped that she wouldn’t have to rely on it completely if her hunting skills didn’t improve. She didn’t want to eat fish for the rest of her life.

“Do you like to fish?” She found herself asking.

“A little.” Claude answered with a shrug. “I’m not as good at it as some other people, mostly because I didn’t grow up with it. I prefer hunting over fishing anyway.”

There was something strange about how he phrased himself. After a moment of contemplation, Byleth realized that he revealed a bit about his mysterious past. Unfortunately, he had already resumed his cleanup efforts, barring Byleth from asking any more questions on that subject.

The two of them continued to tidy the hunting shack until it looked at least somewhat organized. Luckily, the crow hadn’t made any sort of nest in here, so it was easy to remove all traces of him. By the time they were done, the afternoon rays started to become tinged with yellow and orange hues, an indication of the coming evening.

“Everyone’s going to kill me when I get back.” Claude groaned. “I was only supposed to be gone for a few hours.”

“You didn’t have to stay for that long.” Byleth told him. “I could have cleaned this place up by myself.”

“Nah. It’s fine. I don’t mind spending time with you, even though my Golden Deer would think otherwise.” Claude shot her a wink. “Besides, we got a lot done here. It’s too bad that I won’t have this much free time in the future.”

Byleth tilted her head at his curious remark. “What do you mean?”

“I’m just in the middle of a big project. That’s all. Plus, your cabin is further away than Vaida’s roost, so it’ll be harder for me to sneak out.”

Oh. That’s what Claude meant. She was a bit saddened by the news, but at the same time, it made sense. “I told you before not to abandon your job for me. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I know. I’m doing this out of my own volition, trust me.” Claude chuckled, like he was laughing at an inside joke. “I’ll still try to drop when I can, at least to bring over things like your books.”

“Technically, those books are yours.”

“True. I guess I’m loaning them to you indefinitely then.” He laughed again. “Anyway, it’s not like I won’t come back here, so don’t cause too much trouble while I’m gone, ok? Vaida isn’t around to keep you in check anymore.”

“I won’t.” Byleth replied. She wasn’t sure how much trouble she could cause in the middle of nowhere anyway.

* * *

As it turned out, she couldn’t cause any trouble for Claude, but she had plenty for herself.

The first and most prominent problem became apparent almost immediately after Claude left. Byleth nearly went the whole day without eating something, and her friend wasn’t going to come back with food anytime soon. She had to catch her own food now, or spend the rest of the night hungry.

Neither that prospect nor the lateness of the day phased her. Byleth sprang into the air with a launch from her legs, propelled herself higher with a flap of wings, and became airborne in a blink of an eye. As she ascended, Sothis’s green figure on the ground was soon lost in the greenery of trees. When she could no longer see her down below, Sothis rematerialized as a voice inside her head. Even though the harpy envied Sothis for her flight when her wing was broken, it turned out that the ghostly girl couldn’t keep up with her at full speed. She had to give up her corporeal form and manifest herself as plucky words of wisdom in order to stay with Byleth.

Without Claude flying alongside her, the skies were terribly lonely. There weren’t even any other birds this high up. Still, her empty stomach motivated her to keep soaring. From her vantage point, she could see why Claude said people rarely hunted around here. The forest grew on top of a hill, with a river shearing off its western side into rocky cliffs. It didn’t look like there were any roads nearby either. The closest sign of civilization was the von Riegan estate, a smattering of white, greys, and tans blotches that broke up the canvas of greens. Her eyes lingered on that patch of not-green, leading her to wonder what he was up to right now. Pondering such questions wouldn’t fill her belly though. She turned her gaze back to the ground and continued to look for prey.

Her vigilance was rewarded a few minutes later. In a grassy field was a lone rabbit, blissfully unaware of the danger above it. The creature was large enough to satisfy Byleth’s hunger for now. That was all the incentive she needed to plummet towards the earth, talons outstretched.

The rabbit darted away. At the last second, Byleth angled her wings so she flew horizontal to the ground instead of into it. Her dive became a chase across the meadow, the rabbit bounding away in zig-zags to avoid her claws. She almost grabbed the elusive critter several times, but only came away with strands of fur or clumps of grass with each attempt. Eventually, the rabbit hurtled into bushes, forcing Byleth to come to a screeching halt. She alighted on the grass, mournfully watching the rabbit disappear deeper into the thick undergrowth of the forest.

“That was absolutely pitiful.” Sothis showed up to chastise her. “You’ve grown soft and lazy from having someone feed you all the time.”

 _“I am not soft. I just need more practice.”_ Byleth retorted back.

“That’s what you said last time. And nothing has changed.” Sothis rolled her eyes. “Is this the real reason why you chose to stay behind? You would rather have an easy source of food than the answers we’ve been searching for ever since we awakened on that riverbed?”

Byleth shook her head with a grumble. She already told Sothis why she wanted to stay with Claude for a little while longer, and, she cared not to repeat it lest she get teased again. The sassy child made fun of her friendship with Claude, while ignoring her other perfectly practical reasons to stick around. Like how Byleth still knew very little about her human friend, and would continue to know very little without her interactions with Claude. Or she didn’t know if she could manage a long flight to the Oghma Mountains, like he suggested.

Or… yes. The harpy sighed in resignation. She supposed that Claude’s gifts of food did sway her to his side. She shot one more look towards the last seen whereabouts of the rabbit before barreling back into the sky. She thought for a moment to just perch on a tree and scout for food without spending precious energy on flight, but ever since her wing recovered, she just wanted to soar amongst the clouds. 

Her next several attempts went just as poorly. Whether her target was another rabbit, a deer, a pheasant, a squirrel, or whatever other animal that looked edible, they all evaded her grasp. To make matters worse, her frustration made her careless and reckless. During her later failed hunts, she ended up flying into thickets and tree trunks. Byleth didn’t injure herself seriously, but her pain only infuriated her more, and led to more mistakes. 

Finally, she caught a break by catching a vole. It wasn’t nearly big enough to fill her stomach, but she gulped it down in two bites anyway. The pride in her catch relieved her hunger more than the mousy creature did. By the time she was ready to hunt for more food, the sun was nearing the horizon, painting the sky with soft pink hues. She couldn’t hunt in the darkness like an owl, so she supposed this vole would have to last her for the rest of the day.

As soon as she alighted again, the next problem made itself visible in the form of an inky black, raucous, flying blob of sorts. She barely had time to realize that she was looking at a mob of crows before they attacked her with bared talons and beaks. Byleth, being the large target she was, couldn’t dodge all their blows. She yelped and flapped at them to get them off of her, but they didn’t give up their assault, even though she managed to drive back a few of them with lucky swipes. The crows pecked at her, clawed at her, and dodged almost every counterattack until she gave up on repelling them. With resignation and stinging wounds weighing her down, Byleth flew down to her cabin and dove through its open window. She hated to shut herself off from the outside, but she was forced to close the windows behind her lest they invade her shack too.

“Well. That was an exciting end to our day.” Sothis peered outside the window. Most of the crows had already disappeared after being blocked by the pane of glass. Only a few remain, the closest one being a large creature with one eye scarred over.

“Huh.” She stared at the one-eyed crow more intently. “Do you think that they mobbed us because this crow was upset at having his home stolen?”

 _“Crows aren’t that smart. And this is my home now.”_ Byleth replied bluntly as she collapsed on the bed. Admittedly, she had gotten mobbed by crows before, during the week between their awakening in the river and their first meeting with Claude, but it was an experience she didn’t miss.

“If you’re going to say stuff like that, you have to mean it! Show them who they’re messing with!” Sothis shouted, only for her words to fall on deaf ears. Byleth had basically passed out on the bed from a combination of fatigue and hunger. Her phantasmal guardian let out a half-sigh, half-yawn, and resolved to give her more of an earful later.

The strange duo of Byleth and Sothis thought that perhaps their encounter with the crow mob was a one-time occurrence, but the attacks persisted throughout the next day, and the next. Whenever she showed her face in the skies above the forest, they swooped in to divebomb her with pointy beaks and claws. They even grew bold enough to ambush Byleth when she wasn’t flying through their territory. It felt like they purposely sought her out just to make her wish she had never moved here. On the plus side, the constant mobbing helped improved Byleth’s flying at a rapid pace, to the point where she was able to catch prey on a consistent basis. When she wasn’t being bothered, that is.

The final straw came when the crows harassed her while she was fishing in the nearby river. Fishing! To Byleth, that sacred moment of tranquility was not to be disturbed by anyone, least of all by a bunch of irrational crows. She had to do something about them, once and for all.

“Why didn’t you bring them up to Claude? He would definitely help us, if you’d only asked.” Sothis cornered Byleth right after the aforementioned man departed from a brief visit.

 _“I don’t want to bother him. He’s already busy enough.”_ Byleth sat down in a chair and flipped through a book Claude loaned to her today. She had discreetly asked him for a book about the local wildlife, in hopes of finding a solution to her problems. That was the furthest she would go in asking for his help.

“You wouldn’t bother him by asking for help. In fact, you would be doing the opposite.” Sothis replied. When Byleth stared blankly at her puzzling words, she just smiled knowingly in return.

“Have you not noticed how much he enjoys your company? He would gladly use your crow problem as an excuse to mingle or a reason to show off.” Sothis twirled a strand of her luscious green locks with a finger. “Why, when you returned to him from the skies, he was overjoyed! I thought he was going to confess right then and there!”

 _“Confess? Confess to what?”_ Byleth gave her a puzzled look. She didn’t think he looked that excited back then, although there was a lot going on in that moment.

“You really didn’t notice, did you?” She let go of her hair to tap her finger against her cheek. “The point is, as much as he’d like to deflect his feelings with tangents and half-lies, he cares about you. A trifling matter like crows would be of no burden to him at all.”

Byleth nodded again. She thought it was obvious that Claude liked her, in the same way that she liked Claude. Why else would he shelter her, heal her broken wing, be so eager to help her preen her feathers, and offer up this hut when she decided to stay here? She also didn’t mind that he kept his affections bottled up either. That was part of his charm, she supposed. As long as they continued to enjoy each other’s company, he could express himself however he liked.

Apparently, her sentiment wasn’t good enough for Sothis. Maybe Byleth was missing an implication in her words, judging from how she leered at the harpy. That inscrutable stare turned into a flippant one as her sigh blew some hair out of her face.

“Although if he didn’t want to confess to that, I would have also accepted confessions of his secrets. There’s still so much we don’t know about him. So much...”

Byleth ignored her cryptic words, not wanting to restart the argument on whether to trust him or not, to offer up a different rebuttal. _“Didn’t you want me to stop relying on Claude? If I can fend off the crows by myself, I should be able to handle any other hardships.”_

“I did say that, and it makes me proud to hear that from you!” Sothis grinned. “Maybe once you’re completely weaned from Claude, I’ll even upgrade you to fledgling. Don’t mention this in front of him, however. You might just break his poor heart.”

Byleth just gave her a half-lidded glare in response. Sothis found her silent retort more amusing than it actually was and brushed it off with high-pitched laughter.

Fortunately, the impish girl didn’t make any more snide, unhelpful remarks. Byleth was able to focus on her research in peace. Unfortunately, she didn’t make much headway before the shadows grew long from the approaching night. She usually fell asleep with the sun, as she couldn’t do anything else in the darkness, but today she wanted to stay up longer to continue her reading.

To do that, she needed a light source of some sort. Byleth managed to scrounge up a lantern from the mess, but realized that she didn’t really know how to light it normally. However, fire magic should work well enough, right?

 _“Sothis, could you help me light this lantern?”_ She asked. The other girl was already becoming sleepy with the setting sun. She let out a yawn before she stood up and stretched out her arms and wings.

“Hmph. You should be able to cast the Fire spell by now. You performed it twice for Claude already.”

_“That was a while ago. And the sigils are rather complicated.”_

“All I’m hearing are excuses. But very well. Just this once.” 

_“Thank you.”_ Byleth said as she summoned forth an empty spell circle. The glowing ring of magic was small, because she figured that she only needed a small flame to light up a lantern. She also didn’t need to sing Sothis’s song to help with the conjuring, although she hummed it to herself anyway while Sothis filled in the circles with somewhat familiar sigils. Soon enough, a tiny fire blazed in Byleth’s wing talons. She let the flame slide out of her grasp and into the lantern’s compartment. The wick inside caught on fire, illuminating the room in a friendly, golden glow.

Byleth contented herself with a job well done, especially since she didn’t fall asleep after casting. She was able to resume her reading with minimal problems. The sun had fully sank below the horizon by this point, dousing the room in complete darkness save for what the lantern could illuminate. Despite all the time that passed, she didn’t glean anything useful from her book. Perhaps because it was because she kept getting sidetracked by interesting passages about other, friendlier animals that weren’t pertinent to the issue at hand. Sothis grew weary from having to correct Byleth's wayward focus all the time. She eventually drifted off into a blissfully silent stupor, leaving Byleth all alone.

And cold. With night came a drop in temperature, and this hut was less insulated than Vaida’s roost. Not to mention that the floor wasn’t covered in sand that absorbed the afternoon rays all day and emitted them as heat when it was most appreciated. Byleth needed to keep herself warm somehow. She looked up from her book to search the hut for anything useful. Her eyes eventually settled on the fireplace, which still had ancient wooden logs from who knows when. 

Byleth waddled over with a singular purpose that Sothis might not approve of, concentrated on the power within herself, and formed the spell circles again. She did her best to remember the sigils Sothis inputted earlier, but unfortunately her recollection fell short of the task, managing only a sputtering flame that died out quickly. Undeterred by her failure, she tried again, this time singing Sothis’s song of fire. The fiery spirit of her melody bridged the gaps of her memories, correcting the mistakes in her sigils and adding details she missed. Soon enough, her singing coaxed her flames into a blazing fireball that burned over her wing talons. With a confident pose, she tossed her fireball into the fireplace, where it exploded in a spectacular burst of heat and orange light. Byleth stumbled backwards from the force.

“Huh?!” The sound woke Sothis up from her nap. Her youthful frame popped into existence in order to figure out the cause of the disturbance. When she noticed the cackling fireplace, and the charred marks around it, she let out a laugh that both praised and chided Byleth.

“Who knew you had it in you? But next time, there’s no need to be forceful with your casting.”

Byleth wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but she nodded all the same. The harpy sat down in front of the fire, bathing herself in its warmth. As she watched the fire dance in the confines of the fireplace, a sudden thought sprang up in Byleth’s mind like a weed. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured this out before.

_“Sothis, do you think I can use magic to scare off the crows?”_

“Hm? Sure.” She replied in a surprisingly calm manner. “It certainly took you awhile to come up with that idea, didn’t it?”

Byleth glared at the ghostly child bathed in the orange glow of the fire. _“If you had this idea earlier, why didn’t you mention it?”_

“Because I didn’t want you to become too reliant on me either! Not when you’re slowly detaching yourself from Claude.”

Her continued glare indicated that she didn’t buy Sothis’s explanation. It kind of sounded like Sothis only came to that realization at the same time, and covered up that inadequacy with a hasty excuse. Still, Byleth decided to let that lie and brainstormed potential ways to put this scheme into action.

“You will have to be careful when casting magic though.” Sothis piped up with a warning Byleth was already aware of. “It wouldn’t do to set the forest ablaze to chase away a few birds.”

_“I’m only planning to make a small fire. I don’t want to kill them.”_

“Are you truly capable of ‘only’ making a small fire? You almost burned down the shack while lighting a fireplace!” Sothis huffed for a moment, then her harsh expression softened. “If you’re serious about this, then it’s up to me to teach you how to cast magic safely. But only if you promise to not act as recklessly as you have been.”

 _“I’m not that reckless, am I?”_ Byleth wondered to Sothis. She recalled the incidents that caused the most trouble, and realized that most of them were instigated by the green-haired girl herself. Sure, Byleth was curious about a lot of things, but she never acted that boldly until Sothis encouraged her to follow her impulses.

Sothis felt the need to defend herself from Byleth's accusatory stare. She fluffed up her wings as she spoke. "Don't look at me like that! Just because I was the catalyst for _some_ events doesn't mean that I caused everything that followed! You can stand to be less clumsy and more careful!"

Byleth still didn't believe her, but didn't make any further comment. She had no desire to aggravate her and then be forced to endure an entire night of squawking.

She instead spent the rest of their time going over the fundamentals of magic with Sothis. Now that Byleth was making an earnest effort to cast spells without Sothis’s help, she had to be taught basic lessons that were previously skipped over. There was no way she could consider herself a competent mage otherwise. She ended up staying up all night in order to commit Sothis’s instructions to memory, but it was time well spent in her opinion.

Especially since Byleth could now be free from these nasty crows. The following morning, and in a strange twist of fate, she winged into the sky to seek them out. She didn’t bother to be particularly stealthy like she had in the past. The sooner they found her, the sooner they could get this over with.

Sure enough, Byleth could hear the raucous cawing of a mob behind her. She wheeled around to face her nemesis. Leading the charge was the one-eyed crow that she encountered numerous times by now. He flew in a straight line towards her, unshaken by anything that Byleth could throw at him.

Including the glowing sigils that floated around her wing talons. With a great flap of her wings, she conjured sparks of flames that she tossed at the dark mass of feathers. The miniature fireballs were too small to set any of them ablaze, but many of the crows still halted their advance and flew away, abandoning the flock. The only mobsters that remained were the most determined ones. They ignored the heat emanating around Byleth and their slightly singed feathers to dig their talons into the harpy. Byleth shouted in pain while she dove lower to avoid them. 

After putting some distance between herself and the crows, she casted Fire again, this time using her growing frustration as fuel for the spell. The new fireball shot straight at the one-eyed crow. He swerved away at the last second, but was unable to evade it entirely. Part of the blazing missile struck his right wing, causing him to careen downwards in a heartstopping freefall.

The rest of the crows scattered after their leader was defeated. Byleth stared after the trail of smoke and charred, floating feathers, unsure whether to celebrate this outcome. It didn’t feel like a victory, even though she accomplished what she vyed for all this time. Byleth was just aiming to scare away the crows, not actually hurt any of them. She hovered in place with indecision plaguing her mind, until she finally made the choice to dive down after him. It was easy to find the one-eyed crow, who landed in a bush that cushioned his fall. But it wasn’t easy to take in his scorched wing, his disheveled feathers, and a trickle of blood streaming from a branch that punctured through his chest..

Byleth shouldn’t be feeling pity for the leader of the mob that made her life hellish the past several days. But yet, she did. She knelt down next to him, and the crow cawed weakly in response to her presence. He didn’t fight back, not even when Byleth picked him up and cradled him in her wings.

“Well? What will you do now?” Sothis rested her head against her hand. “I personally think it’s a waste to leave such easy prey behind.”

Byleth gave her an incredulous look before turning her gaze back to the crow. Try as she might, she couldn’t muster the willpower to put it out of its suffering, much less eat it. _“I’m not hungry.”_

“Hmph.” Sothis scoffed and crossed her arms. “Even if you decide to take the moral high ground, the crow will still die from his wounds. You might as well make the most out of his death.”

Byleth gritted her teeth, refusing to acknowledge Sothis’s cold logic. There must be something she could do. Something else that would save him instead of kill him. She didn't want her mistake to be the end of this proud creature. She turned many thoughts and memories over in her mind, trying to find a sliver of hope in the mess that was her brain. After a few seconds of pondering, she remembered a song she heard in the forest a while ago. The soothing melody, almost like a lullaby, healed the scrapes and bruises she got when she fell off Claude’s horse. Claude himself said that song came from magical plants and/or animals, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to sing it herself. Especially when the lyrics came from a very reputable source, and the crow had nothing else to lose.

How did it go again? Byleth at first hummed the song wordlessly, getting a feel for its notes and rhythms. By doing so, the gentle words were coaxed to the forefront of her mind.

_“The Heavenly Lights gaze upon the flames,_

_Washing dark ashes away like the rain._

_Pinpoints of green turn their eyes to afar,_

_Thanking their lifegiver among the stars.”_

Glimmering sparks of light hovered around her wing talons. Byleth didn’t even need to summon a spell circle to conjure them. They just appeared, as if lured by her wondrous singing. Sothis remained silent at first, taking the spectacle with eyes enlarged by awe, but when Byleth’s light began to fade away without healing the crow, she supplied more lyrics with her own voice, a high pitched and crystal-clear wonder.

_“Never forget the heaven’s gift of life._

_Ancient starlight bless all they reach,_

_And save the land from strife.”_

The sparks of light drifted from Byleth’s wing talons to the crow in Byleth’s wing talons. They smothered it in brilliant radiance until Byleth couldn’t make out even a single black feather. As her voice died down from the end of the song, the lights diminished as well, winking away one by one and leaving behind a crow that was very much alive. Sadly, his eye was still damaged beyond repair, but he could hop out of Byleth’s embrace with a flutter of his fully healed wings. That was all that she could ask from his miraculous recovery.

“I… I don’t know how you did it, but you healed the crow.” Sothis gasped. “I’m surprised that you could even remember that song.”

 _“You helped me.”_ Byleth’s blue eyes wandered over to the crow, meeting his singular black one. The two winged beings stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them breaking eye contact, until the crow cawed one last time before flying away.

“I may have helped you with the spellcasting, but the decision to save the crow was all yours.” Sothis sighed. Byleth couldn’t tell if she was commending her or scolding her. Her skinny arms stayed folded over her chest, but the look on her face was one of pride. 

“Still, it does make me wonder…”

_“Wonder what?”_

“Where did you get your compassion from? The wilderness doesn’t always repay kind acts with more kind acts. If you grew up in nature, like most harpies, surely you would have had such empathy beaten out of you by now. Is this the fault of your human friend, or something else…?”

Sothis muttered to herself a little bit longer while Byleth watched. She understood what she was saying, yet she didn’t think much of it. She saved the crow from his demise, and that was that. She would face whatever consequence her actions might bring with her usual steadfastness. 

Whatever Sothis whispered to herself was apparently important enough to repeat in a louder voice. She turned her wistful gaze towards Byleth as she pressed her cheek against her hand. “I’ve changed my mind. Maybe it’s fine for you to be so reliant on friends, with your mushy heart. You wouldn’t last long in this world otherwise.”

 _“You’re overexaggerating. I can handle things fine by myself.”_ Byleth pouted silently. She solved the problem with the crows just now, didn’t that count for something?

“I did not mean that as a scolding! Rather, your trusting nature helps you forge bonds easily, and those bonds give you strength. I shouldn’t push you to abandon them so easily.”

 _“So you approve of Claude then?”_ A rare smile crossed her face.

“I never disapproved of him! Well, not as disdainfully as you think.” Sothis scowled. “You can, and in fact you should, continue to keep him close. But know that there’s a fine line between being reliant and being helpless. We have to leave Claude’s shadow sometime, after all, unless you are content with never finding your human friend.”

Byleth heard that line of thinking from Sothis several times already, yet they jabbed at her guts every time she heard them. She was already aware of how temporary her decision was. She knew it was unrealistic of her to stay here forever, especially with Claude’s ties to the Golden Deer and the Leicester Alliance. 

But she was still glad to hear Sothis’s change of heart directly from her mouth. Now that they were basically on the same page, this new chapter in their lives should go well. And who knows what might come at the end of it? Byleth had several ideas in mind, although if she mentioned any of them to Sothis, she wouldn’t be able to live through the girl’s reaction. Instead dwelling on those fantasies any longer, she took off back into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, this chapter used to be a bunch of introspection and random Byleth/Claude moments, but I thought it was too filler-y and replaced most of it with crow shenanigans. The one-eyed crow will make future appearances though, so he isn't just a cameo character. And the next chapter will have plenty of Byleth/Claude fluff to make up for the stuff I had to take out~


	21. A Tea Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth and Claude talk about food, magic, and crows over a nice cup of tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A while ago, I asked people for ideas and [Neon_Sleep](/users/Neon_Sleep/) suggested tea time. And thus this chapter was born. Although I really enjoyed writing about it, I actually don't know much about tea so I had to do a bit of research. So if something seems off you know why lol.

Byleth found herself with an abundance of free time after the crows were dealt with. Whenever she wasn’t hunting for food, she spent leisurely hours with leisurely tasks like fishing, reading, and Sothis’s continued magic lessons.

Although it wasn’t quite accurate to call these lessons leisurely. Sothis taught at an almost slovenly pace, with an abundance of caution. Under her tutelage, Byleth started with the most basic of spells and couldn’t progress any further than a puff of wind or a spark of thunder until Sothis was satisfied. And satisfying the youthful girl warranted a lot more effort than Byleth expected. She had to memorize the sigils, the corresponding song, and the song’s lyrics, and then combine them together into a harmonious blend of music and magic. Not to mention that she still got sleepy after casting too much magic. Byleth began to suffer from headaches as well as lethargy a lot more often, especially after the more difficult lessons, but she persisted.

She also told Claude about her classes, much to his amusement. Of course he was at first worried about her safety, but retracted his words when he realized who he was talking to. Danger never deterred Byleth from anything she wanted. To support her endeavors, he brought her a basic spellbook filled with spells Sothis already knew, but its diagrams were helpful for Byleth. In return, she showed him the progress she made whenever, and basked in his praise for a job well done.

_ “Sothis, I have a question.” _ Byleth thought to her instructor on one beautifully sunny day.  _ “Why can’t humans use songs to cast spells?” _

“Well, firstly, we don’t  _ have _ to sing to use magic either.” Sothis corrected her. “The songs just match our will to the spell, so we don’t have to keep on manually correcting the sigils to suit the ever-changing environment."

Byleth nodded in an absent-minded way. She didn't understand the mechanisms of spellcasting as well as Sothis, so the explanation didn't make complete sense to her, but she would like to think she got the basic gist of it.

“Secondly, I am not actually certain if humans are unable to sing their spells. I don’t remember ever hearing one doing so like we do. But as I cannot recall many details, this gap in my memory doesn’t give much credence to the theory. This doesn't majorly relate to the topic at hand, however. For now, let’s focus on your current lesson.”

Byleth nodded and focused her eyes on the river before her. Today, she was going to learn both a lesson in Thunder magic and practicality. Sothis got the idea while Byleth grumbled about how she wasn’t catching anything with her fishing rod yesterday. Admittedly, this risky lesson was quite a bit of a step up from harmless sparks in Byleth’s wing talons, but she resolved to meet Sothis’s expectations as she stepped closer to the water.

“You know the song and sigils for the Thunder spell, but I had you temper your emotions so that you wouldn’t shock yourself. Now, I want you to be sharp and fierce. Your voice shall pierce the heavens, like how a bolt of lightning pierces the storm clouds! Don’t be afraid to scream! Make your power known to your hapless prey in the water!”

With Sothis’s encouragement coursing through her veins like the electricity she hoped to command, Byleth stretched out both of her wings to call forth a pair of spell circles. The two glowing rings rotated, waiting for the singing mage to fill in the blanks. Concentrating on what she learned from earlier lessons, Byleth took a deep breath and belted out a thunderous song with a rapid tempo akin to beating war drums.

_ “As the skies splinter and crash, _

_ Thunder turns heathens to ash. _

_ As rain falls on our backs, _

_ We won’t cease our attacks. _

_ The storm will never end." _

Sparks danced across the tips of her wing talons, threatening to shock her if she didn't finish her song soon. The Thunder spell had more inherent dangers than the Fire spell, as the element of lightning can kill in an instant. Sothis drilled many warnings into Byleth's head before teaching her the spell, but the harpy didn't let them distract her current task. She was already good at reigning her emotions in, to prevent the buzzing sparks from turning into shocking bolts, but now she needed to release those emotions in an electrifying outburst.

_ "As Thunder strikes down our foes, _

_ We’ll make our fury known _

_ To those who dare aim at the heavens above. _

_ As long as we fight _

_ With Thunder’s might _

_ We fear no javelins of light.” _

The sparks blurred into jagged lines that were all too eager to pounce on something. Byleth directed the energy from her wings into the river. A loud thundercrack disrupted the forest's tranquility as jolts of electricity bounced across the water's surface. Seconds later, the magical lightning dissipated, leaving behind several floating fish carcasses in its wake.

Byleth flew over to her prizes before they flowed downstream, plucking them out of the water with her feet. Once she had gathered them all, she sat down by the riverbank with a small yet satisfied smile on her face. The smile only lasted for a brief moment, until she shoved half of a fish into her mouth. 

"Congratulations, Byleth. It appears that you are able to perform the Thunder spell." Sothis also wore a smile on her face. "But do not grow complacent! You need to practice with it frequently, along with your other spells. Otherwise you will not only forget the sigils and song, but also lose the feeling that helped you succeed today."

_ "Don't worry. I'll practice." _ Byleth said in between chomps. She felt like she was accomplishing something under Sothis's tutelage, so the magic lessons, as tough as they were, were no bother to her at all. It was just too bad they didn't trigger anymore memories of her human friend. He must not have been gifted in the magical arts.

The harpy and her phantom lounged by the river with the feast of fish before them. Since she wound up with so much fish, Byleth figured that she would attempt to cook her surplus. By now, she had mostly memorized the sigils for the Fire spell and how the burning flames felt over her wing talons. She didn't need to sing Sothis's song in order to conjure a small blaze that set one of the fish on fire. Her first try charred the poor thing to inedible ashes, as well as her second try, and her third. It was only after Sothis adjusted her sigils, to decrease her firepower, that Byleth produced something she could eat. Although the scales of her fourth attempt were charcoal black and unappetizing, she peeled the skin off and consumed the soft white meat within.

"Well? How is it? I hope that was worth the effort." Sothis asked with a curious gaze.

Byleth chewed on her mouthful, then took another bite of the fish.  _ "It tastes plain. Nothing like the fish Claude gives me." _

"That's to be expected. You don't have any seasoning to spice up your cooking!" Sothis scoffed. It sounded like she expected such an answer from Byleth.

_ "Seasoning?" _

"Yes! Seasoning includes ingredients like salt, pepper, spices, and other herbs. But those kinds of things are hard to obtain in the wilderness, unless we can consult a book that can identify edible plants in a forest."

_ "Maybe Claude would know about this too." _

"I'm sure he knows  _ of _ it, but I doubt that he knows specifics that will help us. He's a noble, so he doesn't need to practice in the kitchen when other servants cook for him. Honestly, hatchling, don't assume that Claude knows everything. That line of thinking will stunt your curiosity."

Byleth didn't have an answer for Sothis. She just polished off as many fish as she could fit into her stomach. By the time she was done, there were still a few small fish left on the pebbly ground, morsels that she would have to regretfully leave behind.

That didn't mean they would go uneaten, however. Shortly after she finished, other animals crept up to the leftovers in hopes of a free meal, including a familiar one-eyed crow that landed with a flourish of his inky black feathers. This was the first time she saw him ever since she healed him with magic a few days ago. She admittedly found herself wondering about whether he was doing alright or not throughout that time, and was glad to see that her worries were unfounded.

As the one-eyed crow scarfed down several choice pieces of fish, he was joined by the rest of his flock. Byleth tensed at the sight of so many crows, even though she knew they didn’t mean her any harm. They had left her in blissful peace for the last couple of days, either out of respect for what she did for their leader or out of fear for her magic. And their truce continued as the crows gobbled up Byleth’s leftover fish. It was actually entertaining to watch them swallow some of the smaller fish whole and peck at the flesh of the remaining, larger fish. She was kind of reminded of Vaida’s gluttonous eating habits, except that this time, she wasn’t jealous of the crows’ considerably smaller meals.

Once the riverbed was picked clean of fish, the mob of crows alighted into the sky, save for the one-eyed crow who followed Byleth back to the hunting shack and perched in the open window. She did not mind his company, although she had no idea what he wanted. Was he looking for more food? Was he hurt and sought healing? Or was he just laying claim to the hut that was once his? No matter how often she glanced his way, he remained where he was, occasionally cawing quietly. Neither Byleth nor Sothis could speak bird, but they could tell from his relaxed stance that he wasn't making any demands. 

The crow didn't even fly away when a white wyvern landed in front of the hunting shack. Byleth, however, perked up at the sound of the descending beast. Claude mentioned that he was going to treat her to something special today. That was why she came back to the cabin while the sun was still high in the sky. Her heart fluttered in anticipation as Claude rapped on the door and Byleth opened it to let him in. He gave her a brilliant smile while he strolled through with a curious box in his hands.

"Oh? Did you make a new friend, Byleth?" He asked while eyeing the crow on the windowsill.

"He followed me home." Byleth shrugged.

“Ah. That… doesn’t really explain things.” Claude squinted at her unhelpful response, then at the crow, only to widen his eyes with a shocking realization. “Wait a sec. That’s the crow that I chased out when we first came here!”

“He is.” Byleth supposed she should have mentioned that.

“So why did you let him back in?”

“I don’t mind him. It’s the least I can do, after almost burning him alive and then healing his wounds.” 

He blinked slowly, and then shook his head slightly as if trying to figure out what he just heard. "Now that is a story I have to hear. But tell you what, let's have a long chat about it over a cup of tea. It seems like an appropriate topic to talk about with tea, and I need to set this box down before I drop it." 

"Tea?"

"Tea." Claude repeated after her with a nod. "Also known as leaf juice, or nectar of the goddess, depending on who you ask."

The two of them seated themselves across from each other at a table by the window. The one-eyed crow didn't flinch from their movements, but instead watched them warily. Claude gave the creature an uneasy glance back before opening up the box. Inside the package was a teapot, kettle, several cups and saucers, some sort of burner for the kettle, and small tins adorned with cute drawings and handwritten labels. Apparently, there were a lot of things needed in order to brew a simple beverage.

Claude poured some water into the kettle, put the filled kettle on the burner, then lit it up with a quick Fire spell. Her eyes widened in shock when she recognized the sigils he used to cast it.

"Since when can you cast Fire?" She asked without thinking.

"Since you showed me. I got pretty familiar with the spell while trying to figure out how you, a harpy, can use it. It's not a bad thing though. Having a portable source of fire does come in handy, even though my magic is still too weak to do anything more than boil water."

As evident by how slowly the kettle was heating up. The long wait allowed questions from both sides. "Why did you bring tea today?" Byleth asked.

"Why not? I thought it would be a nice change of pace." Claude shrugged sheepishly. "Tea parties are a popular pastime among humans. Not just because of the tea, but because of the gossip spilled between them."

"Gossip?" Byleth didn't understand how tea related to that. And she wasn't sure if she had many tea-party-appropriate topics to talk about, since she was a harpy living in the middle of the woods.

Claude chuckled at her confusion. "Ah, don't worry about it. I'll go easy on you for your first tea party. More importantly, if your friend was a knight of a noble house, he probably went through this at least once or twice. Do you remember anything about this?"

He waved a hand over all the pots and cups. Byleth shook her head in return. The only things she knew about tea were what she read in books. But Claude's question made a strange thought pop in her head anyway. "I think he preferred stronger drinks." She mentioned.

"Heh. That's entirely possible too. Like coffee?"

"Like beer." Byleth corrected him with a confident tone.

"Ah. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised." Claude brushed off his guess with an amused smile. "Maybe he's more of a mercenary than a knight then… Do you think you've drank any of the stronger stuff before?"

"I don't think so." Byleth replied. If she was able to remember her friend's love of beer, she surely would have remembered its taste, but nothing came to mind.

"Well, don't ever start. I can't imagine what alcohol will do to your flight. You'd probably end up breaking your wing again." Claude laughed while scratching his right arm casually.

Byleth didn't know what to do about that tidbit of information, but she filed it away for later as Claude had other things on his mind. He pulled out the tins from his box and spread them out in front of her. She assumed that they were all kinds of teas, but as she watched him set down tin after tin, she never would have imagined that there were so many varieties.

"Since this is your first tea time, I'll let you pick the tea. Go ahead, open them up and sniff them if you want." Claude said with a smile.

She did what he suggested and opened the first tin that caught her eye, one with pictures of fruits on the side. Immediately, she was assaulted by a cloyingly sweet fruity smell that was too much to bear. She did her best to suppress a cough as she closed it back up and examined a second container. This one consisted of black tea leaves and rose petals that smelled similarly to the bath she took a while ago. It was a nice scent, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to drink it.

Byleth combed through most of Claude's selection, not being any closer to choosing one. There were so many kinds, so many smells, she couldn't possibly pick out a favorite. That just meant she would have to have more tea with Claude in order to try them all, but for now…

She grabbed a tin with pine needles painted on. When Byleth opened it up, a complex fragrance wafted out. The smell was partly earthy, like the undisturbed forest outside, partly smoky, like the fireplace in her cabin, and partly spicy, like pine trees. Yet all of these parts came together as a comforting and somewhat familiar scent. She tried to think of why it was familiar, and startled when she realized that it reminded her of Claude for some reason.

"What's this one?" She held up her chosen tea.

“Ah, I see that you have exquisite tastes.” Claude said in a stuffy, noble tone before switching back to his normal voice. “That right there is Almyran Pine Needle tea. It’s actually one of my favorite flavors.”

“Is it his favorite because it’s Almyran? I do wonder.” Sothis muttered as she flipped herself onto her back. The way she laid down flat in mid-air would be disconcerting for someone who didn’t see her float like that so often.

_ “Do you still think that he has a connection to Almyra?” _ Byleth was mildly surprised at her mention. She thought that Sothis had given up on that.

But apparently she was wrong. “Yes I do! Just because he denied it doesn’t rule it out completely! He could be lying to save his hide!”

Byleth personally thought it was rude to doubt the other partaker of this tea time, so she chose not to comment on that any further. She instead passed the tin of pine needles to Claude, who proceeded to dump a handful of the tea into the empty teapot.

“Are you not going to put water in there?” Byleth tilted her head while Claude took the boiling kettle off the burner.

“Nah, not yet. These pine needles do better at lower temperatures, so I’m just going to wait a bit before steeping them.” Once the kettle was squared away for now, he clasped his fingers together in front of his face and rested his chin on them. “In the meantime, why don’t you tell me about your crow friend?”

Byleth nodded and began to regale him the events of earlier. She managed to recount the most important bits, from how the one-eyed crow mobbed her almost constantly, to how she successfully casted Fire against them, to how she sang an unknown healing song for the dying crow, to their magic lesson of today, which yielded a bounty of fish for the crows. Throughout her story, Claude looked utterly fascinated, and didn’t dare speak up until she reached the end.

"That's. Wow." Claude combed through the back of his hair with his fingers. "There’s nothing I can say to all that except ‘wow’. Although, why didn’t you tell me what was going on? I could’ve helped.”

“I didn’t want to burden you with my troubles. This was something I needed to solve by myself.”

“Oh yeah? I get that feeling sometimes myself, but just know that I’m always willing to lend a hand. I won’t ever be bothered by any issues you have.”

"You hear that? I was right!" Sothis moved to nudge her, but her elbow phased through Byleth's arm.

_ "I never doubted you." _ She grumbled in return. Claude's words made her regret withholding her problems from him, more so than Sothis's. Then again, how would Claude have taken care of the crows? If he got involved, she had a hunch that the one-eyed crow wouldn't be standing around and staring at the party in curious silence.

“But what’s done is done." Claude shrugged. "You handled your crow problem a lot better than I would’ve, and you even made a new friend out of it. I wanted to ask about your song though.”

“The healing song?”

"Yup. Would you be able to sing it for me? I want to see how it works for myself."

"I could." Byleth was secretly happy to sing for him again, if only to hear his compliments afterwards. "But no one here needs any healing…"

Her eyes drifted to Claude's hands, which were scratching his left arm this time. His fingers froze in place when he caught her stare.

"What's wrong with your arms?" She asked.

"Nothing's wrong. I just have bug bites." He responded with sheepish laughter. If this happened several weeks ago, Byleth would have accepted his answer as fact. But now, she and Sothis narrowed their eyes at him.

"On both arms?"

"Hey, it happens. But I don't need to be healed. I don't think your song works like that anyway."

"How would you know that?"

"Well, people don't usually use magic to get rid of bug bites." Claude pulled his arms off the table and onto his lap. "Really, thanks for the offer, but I'm fine. You can just sing me the song without casting the spell. That should be good enough."

"If you're certain." Byleth still wanted to try to heal whatever had inflicted Claude, but she couldn't do much to him if he refused to be looked at, so she focused on her song of heavenly lights instead. Her voice wavered at first, without having something or something to sing to, but she eventually settled on serenading Claude anyway. Even if she didn’t conjure the sparks of light that would relieve him of his irritation, her poetic words came out stronger and full of heart.

Evidently, Claude noticed how much she poured into her performance. He sat there in silence, his green eyes wide and mesmerized, and didn’t make a single sound for a long moment.

“You’re amazing as always, Byleth.” Claude exclaimed after snapping himself out of his trance. “If you weren’t a harpy, you could definitely get a job at any opera house.”

“Opera house?” Byleth blinked. Her question went unanswered when Claude moved on to the topic at hand.

“Anyway, your song sounds like white magic to me.” He grabbed the sufficiently cooled kettle and poured some water into the teapot with leaves.

“White magic? Is that different from black magic?”

“Yep. White magic is based on the faith of the Goddess, rather than reason and logic. It doesn’t use sigils like black magic, but prayers. Supposedly, the Goddess hears all prayers sent her way, and will grant the caster access to her holy light depending on their intent and strength of faith. So it’s really strange that you can use white magic, considering that you don’t believe in her.”

“I wouldn’t say that I don’t believe in her…” Byleth mused out loud. 

“So you do believe in her? Color me surprised.” Claude raised an eyebrow. “Were you converted by the holy book I showed you?”

Byleth refuted his question with a shake of her head. She didn’t know how to explain herself, but she was willing to give it a shot. “I think that… the Goddess exists. I can’t imagine how humans can build an entire religion and keep it going on nothing. But it’s more acknowledgement than anything. I didn’t use my beliefs to heal the crow.”

Claude nodded, as if she said the right answer. Yet he didn’t sound like he was satisfied, because the next words on his lips was another question. “And what does Sothis think of the Goddess?”

“Why does he want to drag me into this?” Sothis straightened herself so she could give Claude a scowl he couldn't see. “Wait, don’t tell him that. Tell him that my opinion is much like yours. I believe that the Goddess exists in some capacity, but she will have to explain why harpies like you are excluded from her domain before I start worshipping her!”

A faint smile crept up on Byleth’s face as she said that, and lingered when she relayed Sothis’s response to Claude. He let out a soft laugh and flashed his own smile. “That’s definitely something I’d like to ask her too, if I ever meet her in person.”

“What about you, Claude? What do you think of the Goddess?”

His small smile was quickly extinguished by her question. “Well, I pay my dues to the lady upstairs just like all good Leicester nobles. But just between you and me, I’m not what one would consider a devout person.”

Byleth could tell that he wasn't especially religious, from how casually he referred to the Goddess. She also remembered what one of his friends told her several weeks ago, when she wandered around his estate and pretended to be a cleric. That pink-haired lady mentioned that he only paid the bare minimum to upkeep the chapel here. But an actual answer from his mouth still didn’t give any reason why his beliefs were like this. She briefly wondered if this was a touchy subject for him, but he kept going as if the current topic didn’t bother him at all.

"Although I heard of people casting white magic without having much faith in the Goddess. It might be because they have faith in other things."

"Like other gods?" Byleth piped up.

"Don't let anyone else hear you mention that." Claude chuckled. "But yeah, other gods, spirits of the land and sky, or even just in themselves. Out of curiosity, what did you place your faith in when you sang the healing song?"

"You mean just now?" Byleth blurted out. That was a question she couldn’t answer in a straightforward manner. If she told him that she was thinking of Claude, how would he react? Her face blushed just thinking about it. 

Claude, thankfully, didn't tease her redness, although he did have a wry smile on his lips. "No, I mean for the crow." 

Oh. She should have assumed that in the first place, but she still found herself at a loss for words. Her previous thoughts knocked her unbalanced and now she was left with nothing but a sluggish mind and a red-hot face. While Byleth struggled to control her rosy cheeks, Sothis chittered in the background.

“You’re such a helpless hatchling sometimes!” She twisted herself so she laid on her stomach instead of her back. “If you can't think of anything but Claude, feel free to use me as a reason. You had faith in my lyrics after all, didn’t you?”

Byleth nodded without being aware that Claude couldn’t see who she was nodding at. Turning back to him, she said, “I had faith in Sothis. She knew the lyrics to the song, and never guided me wrong.”

“That’s… yeah, I suppose that’s one reason to have faith in her.” He blinked slowly. “Must be nice to have a girl in your head that can cast magic for you.”

“I am not just a girl in your head!” Sothis pouted. 

Byleth ignored her to ask Claude something else. “While we were casting spells, I thought of a question that Sothis didn’t know the answer to. Can humans sing songs to cast magic?”

“Hmmm.” Claude stroked the edges of his sideburns. “Yes and no. Yes, because like I said before, white magic spells are prayers to the Goddess, and people often sing hymns in her glory during worship. It’s just that during a battle, it’s easier to chant prayers than to sing them. But otherwise, no. Black magic can’t be sung at all, which makes your casting method unique.”

“Has anyone tried?” Byleth inquired suddenly. 

“Well, you would have to teach people your songs first. And there might be a lot of explaining to do before you even get the chance to teach any humans.”

“But you know my songs.”

“Are you asking me to sing? Trust me, you don’t want to hear my attempts at singing.” Claude chuckled as his eyes shifted to the teapot that had gone untouched for the past 15 minutes or so. “Oh, the tea should be done steeping now.”

Claude’s hasty change in topic went unnoticed, mostly because Byleth grew eager to try the drink he kept hyping up. He poured the finished pine needle tea into a pair of porcelain teacups. The cups were delicate things, a pristine white color with blue, lacey floral patterns and gold trimmings. When Claude scooted a cup and a matching saucer dish over to Byleth, she was a bit uncertain about how to hold it. She grasped the handle as gently and firmly as her three wing talons would allow. Her nose was greeted with the earthy, smoky, and spicy scent that she had smelled before. She brought the cup to her lips, eager to sample Claude’s favorite tea, only for the hot beverage to scald her tongue right away. It took all of her willpower to not drop the cup all over herself.

“Hey, you don’t need to drink it instantly!” Claude’s voice consisted of both concern and amusement. “If the tea is too hot, then you can wait until it cools off. Just don’t wait too long. Otherwise you’ll just wind up with lukewarm leaf water.” 

Byleth set the teacup down. That sounded like a good idea to her.

"If, when you do drink it, it's not to your tastes, you can add some honey or sugar to sweeten the tea.” Claude kept on talking. “But you shouldn't add a lot, or else you'll mask the real flavor of the tea, and then what's the point really?"

He proceeded to take out some small glass jars from his box, one filled with amber liquid and the other packed with white, crystallized cubes. Byleth stared at them with awe, but didn't move to take either of them. She was simply amazed at how many things Claude brought with him in order to simply have tea.

And he wasn't even done surprising her yet. "No tea party would be complete without treats, so I got these too."

Claude fished out of his bag a smaller box with a cheerful, whimsical pattern on its surface. Inside this parcel was a wide assortment of cookies and candies, coming in shapes and sizes and colors that Byleth never dreamed of. She didn't wait for Claude to give the ok, and grabbed the fanciest looking cookie as soon as the box was set down. When she shoved it into her mouth, she was overwhelmed by the sugary fruitiness that came from both its garnish and its filling. And that wasn't mentioning the pure sugaryness of the frosting that was lavishly slathered on.

"You know, you're supposed to eat those with your tea, but I can't blame you for being so impatient." Claude chuckled as he picked out a cookie of his own. "I think the tea has cooled down, though. Try a sip?"

Byleth swallowed the rest of her cookie in order to drink from her teacup. Her tea was only slightly cooler, but its temperature was low enough to consume it without burning her tongue, although she still flinched from its heat. The dark orange liquid was surprisingly not as strong as it smelled, tasting mostly earthy and less spicy or smoky. But it was still cleansed in its own way, and left her mouth feeling warm and refreshed. She didn't mind it terribly, all in all, although she wondered if adding honey would make it better. It would certainly give it a stronger flavor.

"Well? What do you think?" Claude asked after she set down her teacup on the saucer. He stared at her intently, like he was actually concerned about how she thought of his favorite tea.

Fortunately for him, Byleth wasn't going to let him down. "I like it. But it might need some honey."

"I'm glad you do!" He grinned. "I personally enjoy some honey with this tea too, so you're not wrong. Here, let me help you."

Claude added a dollop of honey into Byleth's tea before adding some to his own cup. She watched him stir his tea with a small spoon, and copied his movements with a spoon she grabbed from the box. She continued to copy Claude when he lifted the teacup up to sample the sweetened tea. Now, the sharp flavor of the honey accented the otherwise modest profile of the pine needles, elevating the two ingredients to another level. Both of them set down their cups at the same time, the porcelain clinks resonating in unison.

"How about now?" Claude asked.

"It's better." Byleth replied with some finality.

"Great! And now you can eat some of these with your tea." Claude tapped the edge of the cookie box. "If you want my opinion, try some of these chocolate wafers. They pair really nicely with this choice of tea."

Byleth grabbed the cookie that he pointed at and bit into it without further encouragement. She was delighted by the way the bitter, dark brown coating harmonized with the sweet, crispy interior. That bliss was further enhanced when she took a sip of her Almyran Pine Needle tea. The bittersweet chocolate brought out the smokiness of the brewed beverage, a sensation that she unexpectedly enjoyed.

“This is nice.” Byleth sipped from her cup again. “You know a lot about tea.”

“I wouldn’t say I know a lot. I just know about my favorite tea and what goes well with it, that’s all.” Claude drank from his cup as well. “Although I guess all of this  _ is _ a bit beyond common knowledge. I’m not a tea fanatic like some people, but I have to know my stuff in order to keep up with high society.”

“Makes sense.” Byleth muttered. “If you know a lot about tea, do you know how to cook?”

Claude blinked in bewilderment. Behind her, Sothis both giggled and mumbled something about how she always threw out the most random of tangents. 

“Yeah, I know how to cook. However, if you’re asking if I cook well, then it depends on your definition of ‘well’. I can definitely survive on the road and fumble my way through the kitchen, but I’ve been told that I use too much spice in my dishes.”

“Spice.” Byleth repeated after him. “That’s what I need.”

His puzzled expression only grew deeper from her cryptic words. “Come again?”

“I tried to cook fish with a Fire spell, but it tasted plain.” She told him to shed some light. “Sothis said I needed seasoning to make it taste better, but I had to ask you for it.”

“You’re going to need a lot more than seasoning to make a nice dish.” Claude had a silly grin on his face. “You have to learn proper cooking techniques too. I’m surprised you didn’t burn your fish when you threw fireballs at them.”

“Actually, I did.” Byleth lowered her gaze to hide her embarrassment.

“Ah, well, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. You probably are used to eating raw meat straight from the source, so don’t expect a culinary masterpiece on your first attempt.” That silly grin somehow turned into a reassuring one as he spoke. “Still, I’d be glad to show you the basics of cooking sometime. And I’ll bring you all the seasoning you want. How about that?”

“I would like that. Thank you.” 

“Hey, anytime.” There was that bright smile again, the smile that made Byleth a bit lightheaded. “I never had to teach someone how to cook before, so this should be fun.”

While Claude prattled on about cooking and food in general, Byleth helped herself to another cookie, this time one that wasn’t covered in chocolate. She broke a bit of it off and crumbled it in her talons so she could scatter the cookie fragments on the windowsill. The crow, which was still present, pecked at the crumbs with unbridled enthusiasm.

“You two became fast friends, haven't you?” Claude chortled. His amused tone had a hint of something else Byleth couldn’t place.

“I just like watching him eat.” Byleth had her eyes fixated on the eager mass of black feathers. He went through her first offering quickly enough, and let out a quiet caw to ask for more. She obliged by giving him the rest of her cookie.

“You know, if this crow is going to be a frequent guest, you should give him a name.” Claude said in a joking manner. 

“A name?”

“Yeah. Unless you’re ok with calling him ‘the crow’ all the time.” 

Byleth was honestly going to leave the crow nameless, but now that Claude pointed it out, she did feel like giving him a name felt like the right thing to do. However, her mind drew a blank on ideas. She never named an animal before, so she had no clue where to start.

She could, however, ask Claude for help. “I don’t know what to name him. How did you name your wyvern?”

“Vaida?” The surprise in Claude’s voice indicated that he didn’t expect this turn in the conversation, but he adapted quickly. “She’s named after a fierce wyvern general of the ancient past. According to legend, she wielded a magical spear that made her invincible and granted her the power to slay a thousand enemies. With her might, the ancient king was able to unite the warring tribes under one banner. So I thought the name of a powerful wyvern lord suited a powerful wyvern like Vaida.”

The way that Claude told his story fascinated Byleth more than the actual tale. He kind of sounded cute, with how enthusiastic he was. “What about your horse then? Dayan, right?”

“Yep. Dayan got his name from, you guessed it, a bow knight of legend. Whenever he fired a single arrow, it would splinter into a hundred and blacken the skies. But he wasn’t just strong. He was a wise warrior as well. Supposedly, he guided a wayward prince on his quest to end a war, and the prince ended up marrying his granddaughter. Although that last part is debatable among historians.”

“Those stories aren’t like anything we’ve read.” Sothis pointed out. Byleth waited in silence to hear any further remarks, but when the girl stewed in contemplation instead, she turned her own thoughts to the matter at hand. Naming the crow after people sounded like a good idea. A human name befitted an intelligent and charming creature that survived through so much. The question now was what person could she name the crow after...

“How about Cawde?”

Claude choked on his tea. He was lucky that he had enough self-control to not spray his drink all over the table, but he still coughed and sputtered for a few seconds before regaining his composure. Once he recollected himself, he gave a hard stare at the oblivious crow that nibbled away at the cookie before turning his gaze to Byleth.

“Uh, why are you naming the crow after me?”

“I thought it fits.” Byleth shrugged. “Also, Cawde isn’t exactly like Claude. It sounds different.”

“You know exactly what you’re doing though.” Claude let out a good natured grumble. “I can’t believe that you were hiding a punny sense of humor all this time!"

He paused, as if thinking of a way to dissuade Byleth from her chosen name. "But if we’re going to use human names for the crow, then how do you feel about Dimitri?”

“Who’s Dimitri?” 

“He’s the current king of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. I met him once, and he’s actually a really nice guy despite his appearances. He has a missing eye just like your crow friend, only he lost it in a battle against his father’s assassins.”

Even when she understood the reason behind his suggestion, Byleth felt indifferent towards it. She didn’t have any personal investment in Dimitri as a person, not like Claude. In fact, she thought that the name of a king was maybe too strong for such a small animal. “I like Cawde better.” She proclaimed after some consideration.

Claude laughed again when he heard the pun from Byleth. “Alright. If that’s what you want to call him, I can live with that. Just know that a bird will never be a suitable replacement for the real deal.”

Byleth let out a soft laugh when Claude winked at her. “Of course. Cawde can’t bring me tea and cookies like you do.”

“Ah, is that all I am to you? I’m wounded!” Claude plastered a silly grin on his face to show that he wasn’t serious. Byleth let another snicker escape from her lips, which only made his smile grow wider.

The two of them chatted about more inane topics while drinking the rest of their tea until the skies turned orange and the shadows darkened. Byleth had missed meetings like these, when he didn’t have to hurry off right after he checked in on her. She had missed Claude’s gifts, his enthusiasm when he showed her something new, his easy laughter and smiles that reached his eyes. When she basked in all these wondrous things, she didn’t regret her decision to stay behind. Even while knowing that she couldn’t stay here forever...

Claude must have been feeling the same way. He let out a long sigh as he packed up all the cups and pots from their tea party. “Hey Byleth, don’t you wish that we could live like this? Just the two of us, in a cozy cabin, away from all the responsibilities and prejudice that would separate us?”

“Hm?” Besides her first reaction, Byleth found herself at a loss for words. She almost replied yes, she would like that, but she didn’t know where Claude was coming from with this. It didn’t sound like he really meant what he said, and yet…

Sothis, on the other hand, had plenty to say on the matter. "I don't believe this! He's practically confessing to you! Quickly, hatchling, you can't let this moment slip away-"

“Yeah, it’ll never happen, I know." Claude retracted what he just said with a hollow laugh. Sothis practically deflated upon hearing that.

He continued on, unaware of one girl's hopes he crushed. "Still, it’s a nice dream, isn’t it? It's only too bad some of us have other dreams that'll get in the way. We’ll just have to content ourselves with what we got."

He punctuated his ramblings with a sigh. "Speaking of responsibilities, I wanted to tell you that I can’t come around for a while.”

“What? Why not?” Byleth asked with a little bit more concern than she wanted.

“Because I got an important mission that’ll take me out of town. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be dangerous. It might just last a few days.” Claude picked up the box of tea stuff and hefted it in his arms. “But you still got my letter right?”

Byleth gestured towards the tied up piece of paper lying on the fireplace’s mantle. It was still fastened shut by a feather. Claude gave her a satisfied nod. “Good. Do you also remember what I told you?”

Now it was her turn to nod. She didn’t think she could ever forget his instructions on how to seek help if Claude didn’t return to her. Although, now that she thought about it, didn’t he only give this to her because her wing was broken? Byleth didn’t exactly need it at the present, when she could fly to wherever she pleased.

Claude shrugged nonchalantly when she asked him that. “That’s true, but it’s a good idea to keep it anyway. You never know when you'll need a safe place to stay, or allies to rely on."

"I understand. I'll keep it safe then."

"Thanks. And hey, let's have another tea party when I come back. We can celebrate my success and you can try out another flavor. It's a win-win situation."

"That sounds nice." Byleth agreed. She admittedly got far more excited over their future teatime than she should, with the smile on her face and her mind buzzing with energy, but she didn't care if Claude noticed how much she was looking forward to this. Her eagerness should give him all the more reason to come back.

"Awesome! It's a date then! See you in a bit." Claude gave her a way before turning to leave.

"Good luck on your mission." Byleth said, not thinking much about his unusual choice of words.

"Hold on, what did he just say?!" Sothis squawked too late. By the time Byleth figured what she was yelling about, he was already out the door.

_ "Maybe he meant something else." _ The harpy didn't feel too strongly about Claude's statement, and reacted accordingly. Which was to say, she didn't react at all.

"Nonono. He wasn't joking that time! I'm most definitely certain he meant what he said! And then he had the audacity to leave so quickly! Like he didn't want to reap what he had sown!" Sothis huffed. Her indignant expressions would have been intimidating on someone bigger, but on Sothis, they didn't warrant any sort of emotion from Byleth.

"Ugh! If only you aren't so oblivious and he wasn't so… closed off!" Sothis stamped a foot in the air. "If I had my own body, I would fly right over to his fancy mansion and drag all the answers out of him!"

_ "He is fortunate that you don't have a body then." _ Byleth found herself wishing that she had a teacup to sip from. That simple gesture would help her through talks like these. Maybe she could ask Claude for one later.

"Watch yourself, hatchling. You're also complacent in this dastardly scheme he's weaving." Sothis shot her a look, then grew tired enough to cease her temper tantrum. She struggled to get her last words out through her yawns.

"But there's not much we can do now… I'll just… give him a good lecture… when he comes back…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wouldn't it be terrible if something bad happened haha
> 
> Also yes I introduced Cawde the crow solely because I wanted to make that pun. I do like him though, so maybe he'll stick around a little while longer...


	22. A Reason to Distrust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude, Lysithea, and Ignatz travel to the city of Alban to get some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to Fire Emblem: Three Houses! I can't believe a year has passed already haha. 
> 
> I do have most of this upcoming arc typed out, so I would like to update a little more frequently than I have been. Just so you aren't waiting a month of more for its conclusion. We shall see though. I somehow convinced myself that writing stuff for Claudeleth week on top of everything else was a good idea...
> 
> Also as a bit of a warning: From here on out, this fic will portray more racism and xenophobia both subtle and outright.

Now that Claude didn't need to disguise himself as One who Slithered in the Dark, he could reveal Lorenz's letter to Lysithea shortly after the Almyrans were freed. He actually felt kinda bad hiding it from her, considering all that she had been through and the promise they made, but at least he's making it up to her now. He managed to spare enough free time to find Lysithea when she also had enough free time and beckoned her to his study.

"So the bandit leader in Acheron, all those weeks ago, was secretly part of Those Who Slither in the Dark?" Lysithea's face somehow turned paler when Claude showed her the letter about Myson/Arturio Regaly.

"We don't know if he was actually part of it, or if he just stole tomes for them." Claude corrected her. "But judging from his previous offenses, I'm willing to bet that he ran with them. It's easier to spout this kind of racist crap when a bunch of like-minded people have your back."

"And what about the bandits he led? Were they part of this organization too?"

"Don't think so." Claude shook his head sadly. "They said nothing about it when I interrogated them earlier, nor did they seem all that close to their leader. Not to mention that when the mages attacked the prisoner convoy, they left the bandits behind. If they were part of Those Who Slither, or knew anything about them, I doubt that the mages would leave them alone."

Well, actually, the bandits were spared because Claude had principles against killing unarmed prisoners, but he wasn't going to reveal that to Lysithea anytime soon.

"That means the only lead left is this guy's hometown, where he stayed after he was expelled and before he became a bandit." Lysithea stared down at the letter, or to more specific, the blurb that mentioned a familiar name. "And you approached me for my help because it's somewhere in my parents' territory."

"I don't just need your help, although it would be very much appreciated." Claude forced himself to speak earnestly. "If Arturio is in any way connected to what happened to you, I want you to be there."

Lysithea's pink eyes widened, then squinted as she replaced her surprise with frustration. "I hope you know that I don't consider this a favor. You promised that you would help me find a cure when I joined the Golden Deer. I shouldn't need to sing you praise for holding up your end of the deal."

"I'm not expecting praise. I'm just letting you in on the plan." Claude flashed her a disarming smile. Lysithea really did raise her hackles at the merest hint of a condescending tone, especially when her unique condition was involved.

The white-haired woman let out a harumph and leaned back in her chair. "Do you have an idea on where to start, Leader Man?"

"Well, I was counting on you to send a letter to your parents asking for information. Despite all that's written here, we don't actually have the name Mr. Regaly's hometown, nor any close friends or family members he might have stayed in contact with. But, judging from your cute little pout, I'm guessing that's not the direction you want to head in.”

"Would it kill you to take this seriously for once?!" She predictably fumed at the word 'cute'. When Claude laughed, she realized that she fell for his goading and reigned in her temper. 

"But you're right. I don't want to involve my parents in this. They would just worry about me even more."

"That's… actually pretty considerate of you." Claude said with no hint of sarcasm or flattery. Lysithea, who usually objected to being talked down upon, let his words slide for now.

"It's not just for my parents' sake. If they found out that the ones who stole my future might be within reach, they would tear the land apart to get to them. We need to be rational and precise about this."

"So what are you thinking?" Claude leaned forward with interest.

"I'll go back to my parents' estate and look through their records discreetly. Whatever I find in the archives won't be terribly specific, but it should point us in the right direction."

"And how long is that going to take?"

"Taking into account travel time and the need for discretion, it shouldn't be more than a week."

That was an acceptable length of time for Claude. With his blessing, Lysithea departed from the von Riegan manor the following morning. When she had a mission, she never liked to tarry long. Her work ethic gave him enough peace of mind to take care of other very important things in his life, like helping a harpy fly and moving said harpy into her new home.

True to her estimate, Lysithea had his answers a week later. Only, Claude had expected a long and detailed letter from the Ordelia estate. He didn't expect a short message stating that she will be back soon, then Lysithea herself to physically show up back at his doorsteps. The frail girl didn't like to travel that much that quickly, due to her condition, so she must have something significant to say in person. Claude allowed himself to get roped into a meeting with her during one beautiful morning, even though he promised something special for Byleth later that afternoon. He didn't want to put this off any longer, not with the information Lysithea carried.

That didn't mean he couldn't have some fun though. "Did you miss me so much that you had to come back as fast as possible?" Claude teased once they were somewhere secluded.

"No! Of course not!" Lysithea scowled. She was so easy to ruffle.

"So you're not happy to see me? Ouch. And here I thought we had something special with our private meetings…"

"Claude, would you please quit joking around?!" She huffed, then settled down when she realized how loud her outburst was. "Like I said before, I don't want my parents finding out what I was really back home for. And besides, if remnants of Those Who Slither in the Dark really are in Ordelia, then it's safer to talk to you in person than to send a letter. Especially with what I now know."

"Yeah, I get you." Claude had his fill of fun, so now he had to take this seriously. "So what did you find out about Myson? Or Arturio Regaly, or whatever he's really called?"

"Not much. Everything about Lorenz's letter checks out. He came from an impoverished background and only made it into the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery with a scholarship from the school and a sponsorship from Count Ordelia. But get this. He comes from the city of Alban. And according to some records I found, his grandmother still lives there."

"What's so special about Alban?" Claude thought he heard of that name before, but Lysithea obviously knew more about it.

"It's not special in a good way. After the Hrym rebellion, a lot of Hrym refugees flooded this city because it's so close to the border. Most of these people moved there with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The local lord wanted to drive them out, back to Hrym, but my parents did their best to keep them there. They focused resources to create jobs, build housing, and foster peace. They might have gotten somewhere if a deadly plague hadn't swept through the area, including House Ordelia. After what happened to my siblings and I, my parents… lost their focus, and much of their wealth. Alban fell into destitution after that, and could never regain its former glory despite everything."

Lysithea’s gaze wavered as she recounted the city’s brief history. Her recollection helped Claude remember where he heard of Alban. The impoverished city was often cited by the roundtable as a shining example of why the Leicester Alliance needed to stay out of the business of other nations. Some brazen nobles even went so far to suggest that the Ordelian plague was brought over by the refugees, which was a ridiculous notion and completely untrue based on what Claude knew.

Regardless of the silly things nobles said, the city of Alban was also one of Claude’s personal reasons to keep his guard up. If the people of Leicester were already unwelcoming towards refugees from across the Airmid River, who were pretty alike in appearance and beliefs, then they would definitely not take too kindly to the raiders from across the mountains, who spoke a different language and worshipped a race regarded as abominations in Fodlan.

But all this time, Claude thought that Count Ordelia and his wife ceased their support for Alban because they thought it was a lost cause. Or worse, they stopped caring about people that weren’t born as Leicester citizens. He had no idea that they only neglected Alban because of the sickness that swept through the family. Claude of course heard the official story of House Ordelia through the grapevine, although he had to confirm the more suspicious details with Lysithea herself. She was lucky to have such extraordinary parents, even if they were still quite a bit irresponsible in Claude’s opinion.

However, it was apparent that Lysithea didn’t see it that way. From her shaking hands to her uneven breathing, she looked like she was blaming herself for the state of Alban. Claude wanted to say something to comfort her, but an instant later, all self-pity was gone from her eyes. She glanced up at him with a newly hardened stare.

“Which is why we need to be more careful when confronting Arturio's grandmother. Or anyone in Alban, for that matter. One half of the populace had to flee their old homes because of nobles starting fights, and the other half had their homes ruined because the nobles didn't do enough to help them. If we blaze in there, brandishing our authority to get what we want, we would further erode their trust.”

"I understand. Really.” Claude agreed. He actually was already planning to go incognito when investigating. Lysithea’s story just further bolstered his resolve. “Which is why I’m also inviting Ignatz along, if you’re cool with him.”

“What? Why him?” Lysithea tried to suppress the surprise in her voice, but failed.

“Because he’s not a recognizable noble like the two of us, he has a good eye for this stuff, I want more hands on deck in case we get ambushed like the prisoner convoy, and I kinda promised him that we’d work together to take down those responsible for said ambush.”

Their promise wasn’t really going to be upheld on this mission, but Claude was sure he could frame whatever member of Those Who Slither in the Dark they found. Seriously, he needed to find a shorter name for this shady organization. It might seem intimidating and mysterious to others, but to Claude, the mouthful of a title just sounded pretentious.

“Does Ignatz know about what they did to me?” Lysithea asked, her eyes flickering downwards for a second.

“Nope. I haven’t spilled your secret to anyone.” A pause. “Because I can keep secrets, unlike some people I know.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She lied.

“That’s fine. I’m sure that Hilda found that I often sweet-talked to Vaida during our time at the academy from someone else. You three came up with a very interesting theory, by the way. It’s a good guess, but it isn’t true.”

Claude actually didn’t mind that Lysithea confessed Claude’s secret to the others. Let Hilda and Marianne think that he was soft on his wyvern. It was a fairly harmless rumor compared to the alternatives. And he got to watch Lysithea squirm in her seat. On the other hand, he was glad that he was careful with his other secrets, when apparently not even cake could keep Lysithea’s lips sealed.

“So why are you spending so much time in the aviary?” Lysithea narrowed her eyes. “You know that Hilda is going to do something drastic to find out what you’re hiding one day.”

“Vaida had some issues I was helping her work through.  _ Not _ baby issues. But she’s over it now, so there’s no need to worry about her anymore. She appreciates all the concern though.”

Lysithea scoffed, not caring for his joking manner. Her annoyance only made Claude’s grin wider. She reverted back to her serious tone to finally answer his earlier question. “Anyway, I don’t mind if Ignatz comes along. But only if he doesn’t slow us down.”

“I’m sure he won’t. Actually, let’s get him here to get him up to speed, shall we?” Claude stood up suddenly. With a nod from Lysithea, he left the room to bring him into his office.

* * *

Lysithea von Ordelia, being the impatient girl she was, was in a hurry to leave. She wanted to head to Alban as soon as their plans were finalized. Claude and Ignatz managed to delay their departure by one day, granting the former an opportunity to have a tea party with Byleth. Yeah, maybe it was a bit frivolous of him to spend precious time on something so insignificant, instead of preparations for their journey, but Claude could argue that their tea party was not insignificant. With every new morsel of information he learned about her and Sothis, he was one step closer to his dreams, dreams that probably had farther reaching effects than his mission to Alban. And besides, he liked Byleth’s company. Now that she decided to stay with him for a bit longer, he took every chance he got to enjoy some quality time with her.

The three Golden Deer rode out on horseback the following morning. Being incognito meant using plainer mounts, even if they were slower. Claude couldn't help but feel antsy, both from the lack of Vaida's presence and the fact that he was landbound for the next few days. He couldn't bring his beloved companion because everyone in the Alliance knew who the white wyvern belonged to. Plus, Ignatz and Lysithea weren't as comfortable in the saddles of wyverns or pegasi. He told himself these excuses often, to soothe his nerves, but unfortunately there wasn't much he could do about his general unease of being stuck on the ground. At least Claude had his beloved Dayan with him though, and the road to their destination was pleasant. They travelled through the easy, grassy plains of Gloucester and splurged on a cozy inn for their one night on the road. That choice was made out of consideration for Ignatz and what happened to him the last time he camped under the stars.

Claude was soon able to throw himself into the meat of their mission when they reached Alban. Lysithea had warned him and Ignatz what to expect before they entered, and to be fair to Alban, it did put up a nice front for its visitors. The three of them found a secure stable to put their horses in. But everything changed when they reached the area where Arturio's family lived.

This part of the city consisted of run-down buildings that barely held together, downtrodden weeds growing on the sides of roads, piles of trash that no one bothered to hide, and the occasional tent town. Its people were just as lifeless as their surroundings too. Men listed in alleyways with alcohol saturating their breath and women ushered their children away from the three strangers. Sure, Claude spotted some specks of life, like the storefront that painted itself in bright colors to make up for its drab neighbors, and the only gaggle of kids he saw playing out in the open. But all in all, this was the most depressing city he ever visited, and he had been to towns ravaged by bandits, floods, and fires. It wasn't the destruction that made it somber, although the crumbling architecture did contribute quite a bit to the atmosphere. It was the general malaise, the impenetrable hopeless mood. If even the people couldn't pick themselves up and do better, then there was no way this neighborhood could be restored.

At times like these, Claude wished that he had even the faintest of voices on the roundtable. How could the ruling lords turn a blind eye to this? And yes, he was aware that he was accusing Lysithea's parents for their complacency. They had a somewhat reasonable excuse for their mismanagement, but that still wasn't enough. There must be something the Golden Deer could do for the people of Alban.

But that something wasn't something they could do now. They had an equally important mission in mind. If Those Who Slithered in the Dark did have a presence here, then they needed to be stamped out before the march of progress could even start. On that note, Claude strolled up to a decrepit door of an equally decrepit building and knocked.

A shuffle of footsteps preceded the door's opening. Standing inside was an old lady with wispy white hair, wrinkles all over her face, and liver spots across her cheek bones. She had an unnaturally soft gaze as she studied the man that knocked on her door and his two companions. Claude had exchanged the gold and blue headband he wore for the last week or so for a hat that still covered his ears. Lysithea tied her trademark white hair up and hid it under a hat of her own, although her unusually pink eyes still returned the woman's stare. Only Ignatz was not wearing any sort of head covering, yet he seemed like the most nervous of them all.

"Sorry for intruding on your day, ma'am. Are you Miss Wanda Regaly?" Claude said in the approximate impression of a learned man.

"That's my name. How can I help you?" Her voice warbled from her weak lungs.

"My name is Canas, and these two are Roderick and Demeter. We were friends with your grandson at the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery."

The eyes of Arturio's grandmother widened and her hand on the door quivered at the mention of her grandson's name. It looked like she might faint from shock. Although her trembling might be concerning to other people, Claude interpreted it as a sign that she hadn't expected any mention of Arturio. Which told him a lot of things about their relationship.

"We've been wondering what he's been up to ever since he left. Imagine our surprise when we found out he disappeared off the map entirely! So we came here hoping to find some clues to his whereabouts. Would you be able to oblige us?"

"Of course. Any friend of Arty welcome here. But I'm afraid I won't be of much help." She opened the door wider. "Please, come inside. Let's talk over some tea."

'Canas', 'Roderick', and 'Demeter' made their way inside the humble abode. Earning Wanda's invitation was surprisingly easy, considering the distrustful nature of her neighbors. Claude couldn't stop himself from becoming suspicious, and his suspicions only grew when he examined Wanda's house.

Like the city outside, the interior was also a complete mess. The floor was made of packed earth that sprouted blades of grass, a healthy layer of dust coated the woman's possessions, and broken furniture littered her already cramped quarters. If he squinted, he could make out her bed buried underneath an assortment of junk. It was hard to imagine anyone living in this one-room house, much less an old granny by herself. Even Byleth's hunting shack was more inhabitable.

Yet here she was, pouring already-brewed tea into cracked clay cups. Something didn't add up. Claude turned to the others and shot them a Look. Not only did he have a personal habit of not drinking anything that he didn't watch the creation of, he also didn't trust the situation they were in. When they returned his Look with puzzled stares, he gestured towards Wanda’s teapot, then slashed a finger across his throat. That brutal gesture got the point across.

Claude was able to drop the Look from his face before Wanda turned around with steaming cups of amber liquid in her shaky hands.

"Here, let me help you with that." Ignatz took some of the cups to relieve her.

"Thank you, dearie. I'm glad that Arty made some nice friends at school." She smiled weakly.

"So, all that we know is that Arturio came back here after he left the school. Is that right?" Claude asked. If he started questioning her, she shouldn't notice that no one was actually drinking their tea.

"Yes. He stayed with me for a little while before moving on." Wanda punctuated her answer with a sip from her cup.

"Do you know where he went? Has he contacted you ever since he left?" Claude inquired eagerly.

"I'm afraid not." Wanda sighed. "Arty just disappeared one day, only leaving a note saying that he would take care of things. I do on occasion get anonymous letters with money that I think are from him, but he's never done anything more than that."

"Arturio is terribly rude, to leave his grandmother all alone like that!" Lysithea blurted out, then blinked as she retracted her words. "Er, that is to say, do you have anyone else to rely on?"

Wanda nodded slowly. "I still have my husband. But really, it's been just the three of us for most of our lives. Arty's mother and father died when he was a baby, so the two of us are like his real parents."

"I'm sorry to hear about his parents. He never told us much about his family." Claude intervened to inject some empathy that Lysithea's bold question lacked. "It must have been hard, caring for a child in your old age."

"Oh, it's quite alright. Arty was quiet, but good." The corner of Wanda's lips curved upwards in a faint smile. "He never liked to tell people anything if he couldn't help it. He didn't even tell me much about the business that got him kicked out from school."

So Wanda knew that Arturio was expelled. Claude had skirted around that issue in case she hadn't, but now that she showed that she was well aware of it, he could start inquiring after it. "What did he tell you about his business?"

"Like I said, not much. But he was passionate whenever he did speak of it." Wanda's smile turned into a frown. "I wish he didn't run with those goons though. Not only did he get expelled on their behalf, they're just a bad bunch of apples. Won't you drink your tea, dear? It's getting cold."

Calling Those Who Slither in the Dark a bunch of bad apples was putting it mildly, but Claude let that slide for now as he faked a sip of his tea. "Unfortunately, we didn't know about what he was doing until it was too late. We would have stopped him otherwise. Did he mention anything specific about Those Who Slither that could point us in the right direction?"

Wanda shook her head sadly. "He often went on and on about how they were saving Fodlan from invaders, how they were going to take back Alban from refugees, but he didn't say how or when or why..."

Her choice of words made Claude flinch inwardly. He already had an inkling about Arturio's motives, but to hear them aired so openly twisted his stomach into knots.

Wanda continued on without noticing Claude's discomfort. "In hindsight, it was easy for dear Arty to fall into the wrong crowd. His father, my son, lost his livelihood when the city took a turn for the worse. Unable to support his family, he tried to drown his sorrows away with the bottle, but ended up making things worse. Not only did he become unsuitable for work, he took his grief out on his wife and child. Later on, both my son and his wife succumbed to that terrible, terrible plague. There were a lot of forces at fault, but poor Arty must have thought that all these tragedies were solely caused by the refugees, and that led him to join that rotten group… if only I had noticed the hatred in his heart sooner..."

Her shoulders shuddered, as if suppressing a sob. She pressed her face into the palms of her hands and breathed in shaky breaths. While Ignatz went to her side to comfort her, Claude took the opportunity to dump out some tea onto the earthen floor. Lysithea gave him an incredulous look but didn't make any further comments.

"Please don't blame yourself for what happened. There's no way you could have known how your grandson's life could have turned out." Ignatz told her in a soothing voice. It was the same voice that he once used on Claude, he realized with a start.

"Thank you." She warbled out. She took a moment to recollect herself, then sat up straight in her chair again. "You are much kinder than the other people that have asked after Arty."

"Other people were here?" Claude blurted out without thinking.

"Yes. Men from Count Ordelia, from the roundtable, and from I don't know where…" Her eyes became unfocused as she tried to remember her various visitors. "My hubby took care of them though. We have nothing to say about Arty or his shady friends, so I do wish we would be left alone."

The way she said that struck an ominous chord in Claude. With a sidelong glance to the others, he noticed that Lysithea and Ignatz also looked uneasy. Maybe it was time to cut this meeting short. He stood up abruptly and pushed his teacup aside. "Thank you for answering our questions, Miss Regaly. It must be a chore, entertaining us when you've already entertained so many others. We're terribly sorry to have taken up your precious time."

"It was no trouble at all. You three were so pleasant, I didn't mind giving you non-answers." Wanda's smile didn't seem as innocuous this time. "In fact, you're free to stay a bit longer if you wish. If anyone could find Arty, it would be you. Would you like some more tea?"

"No thank you." Claude insisted. "The tea was wonderful, but we really must get going-"

"Actually, I did want to ask one more question." Lysithea interrupted him. He shot her a quizzical stare but held his tongue. If the astute mage had something to say, everyone in this room would be wise to listen to her.

"You first said that Arturio was a baby when his parents died. Then you said that he was victimized by his alcoholic father as a child. How old was he really, when his parents passed away?"

"Oh, dear me. I do apologize for the mix up. My mind isn't as sharp as it used to be." Wanda placed her fingers over her mouth as she gasped. "Arty was around eight when we took him in. Still too young to suffer that much hardship."

"That can't be right either. Because Arturio was 20 years old when he died, and the plague that affected Alban happened 16 years ago."

"I'm afraid I'm not good with numbers. You'll have to excuse me-"

"And," Lysithea continued unabated, her eyes sharpening into daggers. "You didn't even flinch when I mentioned that Arturio had died."

"When not one of us mentioned it earlier." Ignatz chimed in.

'Wanda' scowled at her guests, her fingers gripping the handle of her cup so tightly, she made more cracks on its already scarred surface. Gone was her matronly, addled demeanor. Her face now only held silent fury and utter contempt for the ones that figured her out. Claude reached for his dagger underneath his cloak, in case the situation turned violent, but Lysithea was really the only one that raised her voice.

"Even if you didn't slip up, you did a poor job pretending to be his grandmother." The white-haired girl was spitting venom now. "This place is a total dumpster! It looks like no one has lived here for several months! You were way too eager to serve us poison, going so far as brewing it ahead of time! And, perhaps most tellingly of all, the records I researched stated that your husband actually died a few years ago!"

She slammed her fists on the table, spilling the remainder of the tea. Wanda stood up, looking like she was about to bolt, but remained in place when Claude, Lysithea, and Ignatz stood up too. Her fearful expression morphed into one of hatred as she snarled out a vicious taunt.

"Ordelians have always been too clever for their own good. It's only too bad that your cleverness can't save your life, much less this city around us."

"Don't you dare-!" Lysithea's hands wreathed themselves in undulating purple flames. Claude held out one of his own hands to calm her down.

"Hey now. I agree that this witch deserves a trial by fire, but only after we wringe the real answers out of her." He grabbed his dagger and flipped it around in his hands, letting the flash of its steel speak for itself. "So, who are you really? How are you connected to Arturio? You better answer quickly, or else Lysithea here will make your death a lot more painful than Arturio's."

The fake grandmother didn't respond immediately. Claude assumed that she was processing the gravity of the situation, but then an eerie grin crept up on her face.

"Why don't you save those questions for my dear  _ hubby _ ?" She sneered. "He would love to continue this chat, especially with Miss Ordelia. In fact, it sounds like he's coming home right now."

Claude whirled around, hearing the footsteps outside moments too late. The door exploded in a violet, shadowy blaze that hurtled straight for the gathering at the table. He moved without thinking, stepping in between Ignatz and Lysithea, only for the flames to consume his entirety.

The moments afterwards were a bit fuzzy. He writhed in agonizing pain before he even hit the ground. More explosions rocked the tiny room, undoubtedly signs of a magical duel between Lysithea and the 'hubby'. He felt a slight breeze through his hair, which meant his hat had fallen off. He forced his bleary eyes open and spotted Ignatz engaged with 'Wanda', who now looked significantly less elderly and more sinister. Even though Claude's headache prevented him from making out much, he still caught a glimpse of bright orange hair and the black garb of an assassin. She must have hid her true self with magic, so the question was whether she used illusions or shapeshifting.

A groan escaped Claude's throat. Before he could fully regain his senses, he was yanked up by strong arms. Despite having a lithe frame, the assassin was somehow able to pull Claude onto his feet and press a dagger against his throat.

"Nobody move, or the mutt gets it!" She shouted. Her threat halted all the fights in the room, and for good reason. As all eyes focused on Claude and the assassin, he found himself hoping that Lysithea and Ignatz didn't notice anything funny behind his ears. It was a strange thought to have at a time like this, even overriding the peculiar insult she used, but he never said he had his priorities straight.

"Now that I have your attention, I'm going to make things really simple. We're leaving, and we're taking Mr. Riegan with us. Try to stop us, and he dies. Follow us, and he dies. Actually, he's going to die no matter what you do. Sucks to be you guys."

"Monster!!" Lysithea screamed, dark magic flaring over her hands. "I won't let you get away!"

"Nu-uh-uh." The assassin pushed the edge of her knife into Claude's skin, drawing droplets of blood. "I'd hate to spill his blood right here, but I'll do what I have to."

"Kronya, cease your prattling. We got what we came for, so we must retreat now, before we attract more unwanted attention." The other mage spoke. Unlike his partner, he played the part of the grandfather perfectly without needing any disguise, with his pale and wrinkly skin, white hair, and massive forehead. Well, almost perfectly. His sinister aura made him feel more like a villainous dark mage, rather than a doting grandfather.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Hurry up and warp us out then." Kronya growled.

The dark mage lifted an arm to start casting, but Lysithea raised her own magically infused limbs to stop him. Beside her, Ignatz gripped a dagger that was nowhere near as intimidating as Lysithea's magic, but it would still get the job done. Kronya made good on her threat and dug her dagger deeper into Claude's throat. Fresh blood dribbled down in streams rather than drops. He was painfully reminded of the time Ignatz stabbed him in the throat by accident. The dagger was even slicing the same place. Only this time, Ignatz moved to protect him instead of hurt him.

If only he had his own weapon to help activate his Crest of Riegan like last time. Claude had dropped his dagger when he got hit by the spell, as if he was just an amateur. But even if he didn't have a weapon, he might have something else.

"You're not very good at holding hostages, you know." Lysithea glowered at Kronya and the dark mage. "If you intend on killing Claude either way, then there's nothing stopping me from blowing up both of you to bits."

"Lys… please…" Claude managed to sputter out. He couldn't say much more than that, with the knife at his throat, but the girl turned her pink stare from her foes to her leader. For a brief second, she glanced downwards and noticed sparks of orange light glowing around his fingertips.

Sensing his hidden command, she moved. With a forceful yell, Lysithea bombarded the enemy mage with wrathful, purple flames. Before Kronya could slide her dagger across the rest of Claude's throat, he slammed a fistful of Fire into her sides. The flames were only strong enough to burn her clothes, but that distraction gave him the chance to slip away. Kronya yelped and tried to smother the flames with her hands, only for Ignatz to pounce on her with his dagger. Claude jumped towards his own dagger on the ground and wrapped his fingers around its familiar hilt in one fluid motion. He was in no shape to fight, with his bloody throat and magically inflicted burns, but he just needed to trigger his Crest to heal himself. Stabbing that witch would do for now-

Another giant, shadowy fireball came out of nowhere. Claude was too slow in dodging it, and the hand that clutched his dagger got immolated for his troubles. With a pained cry, he let go of his dagger, leaving him unable to defend himself as Kronya sprinted towards him with impossible speed. Ignatz tried to stop her with another lunge, but she sidestepped around his obvious attack in order to grab Claude.

"Claude! No!" Ignatz yelled as he tripped over his poorly planned maneuver.

"You know, it's cute that you're risking your life for someone who almost killed you." Kronya taunted with a sickening smile. "One might even say I'm bringing him into our fold, after he showed  _ so _ much interest in joining us."

"What?!" Ignatz's eyes darted between Kronya and Claude. "What are you talking about?!"

"You're lying!" Lysithea shouted, but even she halted her magical onslaught in surprise. Claude wanted to say something to refute the bitter truth, to encourage them to keep fighting, but he could only groan in agony. The fire in his veins was extinguished, both from his injuries and the crushing guilt that she dredged up from the depths of his mind.

Maybe he should have said something anyway. Solon took advantage of the distracted Lysithea to blast her with shadowy flames. The young woman did her best to shield herself, but crumpled under the force of his dark magic.

"Lysithea!" Claude screamed to no avail.

"Solon! Now!" Kronya's shouts overshadowed Claude's.

"Finally! It is time!" The dark mage dashed over with more speed than his elderly appearances would suggest. A brief flash of light later, Claude felt his body slipping away from this place, warping to parts unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I originally had only Claude and Lysithea for this part, but when Ignatz wormed his way into the plot and into my heart, I had to include him. Yay character development~


	23. A Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After receiving a distressing vision, Byleth seeks help from unlikely allies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a warning, this chapter contains depictions of torture, blood, and racism. AKA Claude's in for a bad time.

When Claude woke up, he knew immediately that something was wrong.

The room he was in was pitch black, save for the weak light emitted from a pair of lanterns. They hung just outside metal bars that barricaded the only exit. Around him were puddles of water formed from droplets that fell from the ceiling, and unforgiving stone walls covered in scratches, pitting, and moss that indicated its age. He might have been able to pry a brick loose if his hands were free. However, right now, his wrists and ankles were held together by thick steel cuffs that he couldn’t break or slip out of. These bindings were also attached to an iron stake driven into the hard ground, ensuring that he couldn’t just walk out of here.

But at least he could sit upright and regain his bearings. The metal chains clinked softly as Claude pushed himself off the ground. Once he straightened himself, he realized with a start that he was missing his shirt. If his captors took off his clothes, then they undoubtedly got a good view of his arms, and what was growing on them. He glanced down at himself to confirm his worst suspicions. Tiny pinfeathers, with white shafts and dark brown tufts at the ends, sprouted out alongside his arm hair. Some of them were bent in awkward directions, no doubt from his rough treatment, but otherwise they were clearly recognizable, especially to a group that hated all outsiders.

_ Fuck. _

This wasn’t good. Claude’s feathers regrew themselves a few times a year, and took another two weeks to fully mature. He meant to pluck them after they were done growing to minimize damage to his body, but Those Who Slither in the Dark managed to catch him at a really inopportune time. He shouldn’t have walked into that obvious trap thinking he was going to come out of it unscathed. Or he should have plucked his pinfeathers before the mission, despite all the pain and bleeding he would’ve gone through. That sort of self-inflicted torture would be better than whatever those guys were coming up with right now.

His growing fear caused him to pull at his cuffs. The chains were whipped into a cacophonous frenzy as he did whatever he could to escape. Stupid. He was so stupid. He should have been more careful, shouldn’t have played with that imposter for as long as they did. A million reprimands whirled in his mind, berating him, taunting him with best case scenarios he would never be able to experience. Claude usually had plans for everything, backups for backups, but now, he had nothing except overwhelming panic.

The rattling chains attracted someone to the door. The lanterns above her revealed a familiar pale face framed with bright orange hair. Beside her was another man, dressed in dark robes and a beaked mask, with a set of keys in his gloves. 

“Well, well, well. Look who’s awake.” Kronya (that was her name, right?) waved a wickedly curved knife in the air. “It took you long enough. Aren’t birds supposed to rise early, to get the worm?”

She knew. Claude swallowed his panic so his voice didn’t tremble when he spoke. “Only if there are actually worms around. And I see a nice, fat, juicy one in front of me.”

Kronya let out a diabolical laugh. “I see you haven’t lost your tongue. Good! This will make things more fun.”

The other man unlocked the door to let her through, then closed it behind her. Claude immediately thought of several ways he could overpower Kronya, but none of them had good odds. She was armed, he wasn’t. He was chained up, she wasn’t. He was still weakened from the gash on his throat and numerous dark magic burns, she wasn’t. The only advantage he had was his silver tongue, which he had to keep using in order to maybe turn the tides and to quell his own nerves.

"What do you want with me?" Claude asked in a steely tone. "It's not your style to keep prisoners, isn't it?"

"Hey, I'm the one asking questions here!" The blade of Kronya's dagger flashed in the dim lantern light. "First off, how do you even exist?"

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

Kronya swiped at his face. She moved too fast to see what happened exactly, but the burning pain and blood trickling from a slash on his cheek told him all he needed to know. Claude did his best to not scream, mostly because he needed to see how much his words upsetted her.

"Flap your gums like that again, and your eyeballs will be next." Kronya hissed. 

That didn't phase Claude in the slightest. He was used to threats from all sorts of sources. Which was why he kept on talking. "But seriously, is this your first time interrogating someone? You have to be more specific than that." 

Claude prepared himself for another lashing, but she surprisingly didn't take her frustration out on him. She instead leaned back a bit and regarded him with narrowed eyes.

"You're Claude von Riegan, the mysterious nephew to the current archduke, Godfrey von Riegan. Everyone else may have lapped up your sob story about how your mother, Tiana von Riegan, eloped with a mysterious man, only for both of your parents to die in a tragic accident. Poor you was left without any family besides the one in Derdriu, a grandfather and uncle you never met. But we could tell that your mother didn't run off to just some random place. She went to Almyra."

She brought her blade up to his face again, scraping against the unscarred skin of his other cheek. As much as the razor-sharp edge and his own revealed secrets chilled him, Claude kept on listening. If she was keen on spilling her group's nefarious intentions, he wasn't going to stop her. Kronya brought the tip of her dagger down his neck and over his chest. It didn't draw any blood, but Claude couldn't help but flinch under its touch.

"Now, an Almyran with a Crest is already strange enough. We thought that you were faking it somehow, deluding your elderly grandfather into believing he had such a gifted, handsome, and charismatic grandson. But not only are you the real deal, you're much more valuable than we thought before."

Her knife traveled to his right arm and brushed against his pinfeathers in the opposite direction they grew in. She was gentle enough to not cut them, but the way the cold steel lifted them up, one by one, made Claude squirm. No one else had touched his feathers for a long time, least of all in this threatening manner.

"So let me repeat myself. How do you exist? When female harpies steal away men, they only spawn more harpies. And when male harpies steal away women, the result dies in the womb. They never turn out like… whatever you're supposed to be."

"To be fair, everyone is special. Even you, with your sadistic tendencies and creepy makeup." Claude smirked. He knew he was playing a dangerous game, with Kronya's knife at his arm feathers, but the words spilled out of his mouth anyway.

For that, Kronya grabbed a fistful of pinfeathers and crushed them in an iron grip. The sharp pain, the shattered shafts, and the blood that oozed out of them was enough to make Claude yell. Whenever he plucked his own feathers, he usually pulled them out one by one and with a generous helping of numbing salve. Kronya's methods were not only rougher, they also forcefully destroyed young pinfeathers that still had blood vessels for growth. Which meant she was inflicting a lot more pain than he was used to.

"It's a shame that you can't give me a straight answer." Kronya growled, wiping bloody residue off of her palms. "But I shouldn't expect anything less from an Almyran."

"I'm half-Fodlanese too. The same half that you're from."

"Your mother is nothing like us! No self-respecting woman would… would…  _ mate _ with a beast from the east!" Kronya snarled. "Seriously, how is that even possible?!"

"Hey, with love, anything is possible." A cheeky grin slid into Claude's face. "In fact, if you want to know how it works, first the harpy-"

"Shut up! Just, shut up!" Kronya screamed. She was sounding more upset than Claude, and maybe she realized that. The vile woman breathed in and twirled her knife.

"Although, I suppose your father isn't just a beast, isn't he? Not just any harpy bloodline can produce  _ these _ ."

She brought her knife up to Claude's ear, or more specifically, to the feathers growing behind them. They barely poked past the ends of his ears, and their umber hue blended them in with his hair. But if someone was too close to him like Kronya, their shafts, still a chalky white color from the coating they needed to shed, were quite visible when his ears were folded down.

"I'm surprised you know that much about Almyra. Don't you hate them?" Claude fought the urge to shove away her hands. He wasn't in a good enough shape to start a fight, not when his right arm burned in agony with his mutilated pinfeathers.

"We do. But one has to know their enemy in order to eliminate them." Kronya retracted her knife from his ears. "And you still didn't answer my question. How did you survive to term?"

"I already told you, I'm special. Special enough to withstand anything thrown my way." Claude responded in a calm manner. He himself didn't know the exact reason how he, of all people, came into this world as a healthy, half-harpy baby, and then grew into a half-harpy man that was having the living daylights beaten out of him. But he had a pretty good hunch that he didn't care to repeat to this witch.

"Enough with this 'special' talk!" Kronya grabbed a handful of feathers on his arm again and yanked hard. Claude yowled in pain as blood oozed from numerous open wounds. Then, the pain abated and the blood flow ceased with a flash of light over his chest.

Kronya stared at the symbol that vanished as quickly as it appeared. Then, with a look of understanding, she laughed.

"Ha! Guess you weren't lying after all! If only other half-breed children were lucky enough to inherit a Crest like you!"

Claude clenched his jaws and bit his tongue to avoid saying anything he would regret. Unamused by his silence, Kronya started playing with his pinfeathers again. "You know, I was supposed to extract more answers out of you, but these feathers of yours are disgusting. Utterly revolting. How can you live with yourself? I can barely stand being in the same room as you!"

"The feeling's mutual." Claude retorted through gritted teeth. "I too wonder how can someone just wake up one morning and decide 'I want to look like a murder clown.'"

Kronya took her frustration out on his feathers again, pulling out another fistful. This time, Claude's Crest did not activate. He had to endure the pain all by himself. If he kept running his mouth like this, he was going to pass out from all the punishment. Yet at the same time, he wasn't going to give Kronya what she wanted so easily.

What did she want? From her questions, it sounded like she didn't care that an Almyran held such an important position in the Leicester Alliance. Which surprised Claude, as the reports he read led him to believe that Those Who Slither in the Dark made the integrity of Fodlan their top priority. Kronya instead was more interested in the lineage that manifested in his feathers and Crest, and regarded him like a test animal rather than a spy. Honestly, he would prefer to be treated like an enemy invader, since he would at least be tortured in a more straightforward manner than whatever was going on now.

"Solon's lucky that I have the patience of a saint." Kronya muttered to herself. "Otherwise I would drain you of all your blood right now."

"What does he want with me?" Claude tried to recall the face of Kronya's dark mage partner. He couldn't remember him very well, thanks to all that happened back in Alban, but just thinking about him brought up a potential theory. He remembered Lysithea, what Those Who Slither in the Dark did to her, and the common thread that connected those events to the present: Crest-bearing blood from a strange source…

Kronya responded with a sneer, unaware that Claude answered his own question. "You're real nosy, aren't you? The kind of guy that has to know everything. Unfortunately for you, I'm not going to snitch. You'll just have to die without getting any answers. Isn't that nice?"

That wasn't actually nice, but Claude didn't have much say in the matter. He already gleaned a lot from their one-sided conversation anyway. Enough to make bold assumptions like, "You can't kill me. You need fresh blood for your experiments. That's why I'm still here, right?"

"Tch. You're too clever for your own good, just like that Ordelian girl. How annoying." Her smirk fell off her face briefly, only to appear again like an unwanted guest. “But just because I can't kill you doesn't mean I can't make you  _ sing _ ."

Kronya wrapped her fingers around another delicate patch of feathers. Claude braced himself for what would come next, but an agonized song still escaped his lips and echoed throughout the dark chambers.

* * *

When Byleth woke up, she knew immediately that something was wrong.

The nightmare she just had seemed too real to be a dream. She saw a chained up Claude in a dark dungeon, his only company being a woman with flaming orange hair, a cruel dagger, and an inclination towards bloodshed. For some strange reason, the tormenter was familiar to Byleth in her dreams, but now that she was awake, she didn't recognize her at all. In fact, Byleth couldn't remember much of what they said to each other, nor could she make out the fine details of what was happening. From her hazy memories, it looked like the woman was pulling something out of Claude's arms, like hair? Whatever she did caused Claude to scream in a vivid, bone-chilling way that was impossible to unhear. He was in trouble, in danger of dying. She was sure of it.

However, it was one thing to receive a vision about Claude and another thing to act upon it. Byleth stood up and stretched her wings in order to rouse herself further. The lateness of the night would have sent her right back to sleep if her bad dream hadn’t been so horrific. On the other hand, the full moon and cloudless sky gave her enough light to carry out whatever she came up with.

What could she do? There was the letter that Claude had given her, in case he never came back one day, but she refused to even think about using it. She couldn't just leave to parts unknown while Claude was suffering. So if she wasn't going to abandon him, she was going to save him. Somehow.

"Byleth." Sothis's sleepy voice preceded her appearance. "You are awake because of the vision we just witnessed, correct?"

She nodded back. If Sothis also dreamed the same dream, then there was no denying its importance. The youthful girl's emerald gaze went from Byleth, to the letter on the fireplace mantle, then back to Byleth. It looked like she considered the same option, and decided against it just as quickly.

"It seems like you're not going to heed Claude's advice  _ again _ . In fact, it looks like you wish to save him. Am I right?"

_ "Yes." _ Byleth responded in an instant.

"Then we should gather more information before flying off to his rescue. You are not going to repeat your mistake from last time." Sothis concluded after some thought. "For starters, we need to know where Claude went, what he was doing, and how he fell into that woman's clutches. But acquiring such knowledge may be difficult for us, for reasons you probably can already surmise."

Sothis's logic was sound, as always. The only place Byleth could find all those answers was the von Riegan manor, but she couldn't just drop from the sky and start asking questions. She would need to snoop around in the stealthiest manner possible.

Such a daunting task didn't deter her. Without further delay, Byleth exited through the window and ascended into the starry night. Flying in the dark was difficult, but her destination was lit up with warm, orange light, serving as a beacon. It wasn't long before she hovered over the compound, far away from any wayward eyes. Words from a pink-haired lady floated to the forefront of her mind, telling Byleth to seek her out the next time she visited so she wouldn't be chased by an angry nobleman again. But in Byleth's opinion, that suggestion was for people without wings. Besides, there was no time for any of that. Byleth needed to find out what happened to Claude, then leave.

Her first stop was the wyvern aviary. Vaida was still in her room, curled up into a sleeping mound. Byleth found it strange that Claude didn't take her on his mission. But since she wasn't going to uncover any answers here, that stray thought flew out of her mind as she winged back into the sky.

Her second and probably final stop was the von Riegan mansion. As it was in the middle of the night, very few rooms were lit up, and most windows were closed and covered by curtains. Byleth couldn't pick out Claude's room from the many identical shapes. She tried her best to locate it, going off the hazy memory of when she was led to Claude's bathroom, but even if she did choose the right window, she wouldn't be able to get inside without breaking it. 

"Byleth, I may be of some assistance here." Sothis piped up in her mind. "Settle down in that tree over there, and I can peek through the windows for you."

_ "Will that work?" _ Byleth sometimes still got confused over how Sothis's intangible form worked. She knew Sothis couldn't leave her line of sight completely, but she could poke her head through thin barriers like glass and fabric, and see things beyond them. That was how Sothis managed to watch Claude through the curtains while Byleth was occupied with her bath.

"If it doesn't, then we shall have to come up with another plan. For now, let's give this a try." 

As Byleth soared lower and lower, the green figure of Sothis popped up on the ground. Her shaking mass of hair indicated that she was looking around for any bystanders. Then she turned her gaze skywards and waved her arms.

"All clear!"

Byleth fluttered down to the tree and waited. Sothis floated up to the wall of windows, her wings flapping lazily in the night breeze. She peered through one dark window, then another, announcing each time that it wasn't the right room. When she arrived at a window with candlelight streaming through the curtains, she took a quick peek then waved to Byleth excitedly.

"This isn't Claude's room, but it belongs to the blue-haired girl you met once! What was her name?"

_ "Marianne." _ Byleth's heart skipped a beat. The kind woman discovered her true nature during their bout of freedom long ago. But instead of attacking her or screaming, Marianne did her best to heal Byleth's broken wing and helped her back into the aviary. Claude had mentioned that Marianne was a good friend of his, so if there was anyone Byleth could trust, it would be her.

Sothis, on the other hand, was more hesitant. She gave Byleth an incredulous look when the harpy flew over to the windowsill. "Hold on! You cannot re-introduce yourself so brazenly! We don't know if she will react so kindly to your presence this time!"

_ "You don't know, but I do." _ Byleth had to remind herself of the fact that Sothis never actually met Marianne. She slept through the entire early morning encounter, and gave her host a loud earful about it when she woke up. 

Before Sothis could object further, Byleth gently tapped on the glass pane. She could hear the faint shuffle of cloth and feet inside. Seconds later, Marianne parted curtains, and nearly fainted from shock when she saw a harpy sitting in front of her.

"Oh! By the Goddess!" She exclaimed. Thankfully, her voice was muffled by the glass between them.

Byleth, unperturbed by her reaction, tilted her head. "Do you remember me?"

"Yes. Of course." Marianne breathed out. "I didn't know you were still here though. I'm glad that your wing is looking better."

Byleth gave the aforementioned wing a glance before turning back to her. "I'm here because Claude is in danger and I need to save him. Can you tell me where he is?"

"Um…" Marianne was unable to hold eye contact with Byleth. She stared down at her hands, wringing them. Byleth feared for some bad news at that moment, but then the woman lifted her head.

"W-would you be able to come inside? I don't want you to be seen by anyone else."

Byleth nodded and did what she asked. Marianne opened the windows, then quickly shut them behind her. Her room was surprisingly messy, although not in the same way as Claude's. His living quarters had books and trinkets strewn about in a haphazard manner. Here, things were not all over the floor, but in the oddest of places instead. A simple dress hung over the back of her chair, books took up too much space on the night table next to her bed, and Byleth almost stepped on a small bag of birdseed under the window. To her, it didn't seem like Marianne was lazy about cleaning up. She just wasn't good at organizing her space.

"I-I apologize for the mess." Marianne stared down at her feet again when she saw Byleth studying her surroundings. "This is all very sudden. If I had known that I would get midnight visitors, I would have tried to tidy my room…"

"I don't mind." Byleth did her best to sound as reassuring as possible. She noticed just now that Marianne was in a nightgown, and felt a little guilty for barging in like this. "It isn't as bad as Claude's room."

She realized too late that she probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Marianne's hands flew over her mouth as she gasped in shock. "You've been inside Claude's room?!"

Behind Byleth, Sothis snickered. "Hatchling, when will you learn to think before speaking?"

"I was only there for a moment." Byleth wisely chose not to tell Marianne the reason why she was there. "It doesn't matter now. Claude told me he was leaving on a mission. Where did he go?"

"He, um, went to a city called Alban. I think. It's in Ordelia." Marianne replied. "And he left with Ignatz and Lysithea."

Byleth didn't recognize the second name, but she knew the first. That was the young man who made a painting of a broken statue in secret. She wondered briefly if he had finished it yet, then turned her focus back to the more important concern.

"Would you be able to tell me how to get there?"

"Maybe…" Marianne's chocolate eyes wandered over to a disorganized bookshelf. "But I have to ask, what is your relationship with Claude? Why do you think he's in danger?"

Byleth paused, giving herself enough time to think out her answer. For some reason, the second question was actually easier for her to explain than the first. 

"Claude is… a friend. I saved him from a bandit but broke my wing while doing so. Claude brought me here to take care of me. Now he's helping me regain my lost memories."

"You have amnesia?" Marianne widened her eyes.

Byleth nodded back in response. The woman's expression shifted slightly, from one of confusion to one of sympathy.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm also glad to hear that Claude helped you so much. He is a kind man, even though he hides his heart more than he should."

"That sounds about right." Byleth agreed. Marianne let out a soft laugh before Byleth continued on with her explanation.

"As for how I know he's in danger… This may be hard to believe, but I have visions. Dreams of the future. Just now, I dreamt that Claude was being held in a dark place, tortured by a woman with orange hair and a knife. If I don't save him, he's going to die."

"I don't know of the woman you described to me." Marianne murmured Byleth thought that meant she didn't believe her, but was quickly proven wrong.

"But you seem confident in what you saw. I… still don't quite fully understand what is happening, but I trust you. You wouldn't come here and risk exposure without a good reason."

"Thank you." Byleth said in relief. "So you'll tell me where is Alban now?"

"Yes, but with one caveat." Marianne inhaled deeply, like what she was going to say took a lot of courage. "I want to come with you."

"What?" Byleth stared at her with a slightly opened mouth. She hadn't expected any company on this trip. She was fully prepared to charge into the enemy's lair and rescue Claude all on her own, mostly because she couldn't imagine that any of Claude's friends would be willing to fight alongside a harpy.

"Is it that strange?" Marianne blinked. "I'm part of the Golden Deer. I-I can fight, and heal, and you need both in order to save Claude. Besides, Claude has done a lot for me. I need to repay his kindness by helping him, and by helping you too. It's obvious that he cares about you, if he sheltered you for so long, so if anything were to happen-"

Marianne's rambling was interrupted by heavy footsteps outside. She whirled around quickly, staring at the door in panic, then snapped her attention back to Byleth. 

“You have to hide! Quickly!” 

Byleth, sensing her urgency, also panicked as she looked for a good hiding spot. Somehow, the imminent fear of being found out wiped out all of her common sense. She was only able to pick the first spot that came to mind, which was under the blankets of Marianne’s bed. Byleth covered herself with the pristine white sheets, seconds before a series of knocks banged on the bedroom door.

"Marianne! Open up!" A high pitched voice rang out. Marianne strolled over dutifully to open the door. The other person didn't waste a single moment to invite herself into the room.

"I'm glad that you're awake at this hour! Ignatz just flew back from Alban, and he says Claude is in big trouble!"

"Hilda! I-"

Byleth couldn't see what was happening, but she guessed that Marianne was hesitant to leave with Hilda because she still had a harpy in her room. Marianne stuttered non-words for a few seconds, only to be cut off by the other woman.

"Hm? What's that you got on your bed? Are you hiding something? Or… " A gasp. "Someone?!"

"Hilda, please!" Marianne cried out. "D-don't mind the blankets. What's this about Ignatz and Claude?"

"You know, you're just making me more curious like that. I don't mind you having guests over, but you have to be more discreet about it. Otherwise people will talk!"

Panic overwhelmed Marianne's tongue again, reducing her to a babbling mess. Throughout their argument, Byleth sat very still, against all instincts. If she moved, then she would just look more incriminating. But if she didn't move, then Hilda was going to unveil her at this rate, despite Marianne's nonsensical protests.

So she decided to take matters into her own talons. Byleth sat up and pulled the blanket partially off of herself so that only her head was showing. Marianne let out an undignified eep. Hilda stopped her chattering to gawk at the stranger. Sothis burst into a tirade that cited a million reasons why this was a bad idea.

To all three of them, Byleth only said, "Tell me what happened to Claude."

Hilda's first words after the reveal weren't directed towards Byleth, but to her friend. 

"Marianne!" She yelled so loudly, people in nearby rooms probably heard the commotion. "Who is this?! Why didn't you tell me that you were going to break my heart with a new friend?"

"That's not-! She's not-!" Marianne stammered and stuttered, but could not get a full sentence out. 

Hilda thankfully arrived at a second, more accurate conclusion once she studied Byleth's face more thoroughly. "Say, weren't you the cleric looking for Claude like a month ago?"

"I am." Byleth nodded, even though that wasn't really the truth.

"So you decided to give up chasing after him?" Hilda laughed. "I would say good for you, but did you really have to go after my bestie instead?"

Her 'bestie' buried her blushing face into the palms of her hands, emitting a faint 'nooooo'. Byleth, meanwhile, looked as placid as usual. Hilda raised an eyebrow at her non-reaction.

"I'm not here for whatever you think I'm here for." Byleth didn't actually know what Hilda was talking about, although thanks to Sothis's chittering, she might have a vague idea. "I came here to tell Marianne that Claude is in danger. But it looks like you already knew."

"Huh?! How did you know before us?" Hilda shot Marianne a bewildered look. The blue haired woman didn't have much of an answer from her, since she was still embarrassed by earlier antics.

"I… don't have time to explain right now." Despite how bad her response sounded, Byleth didn't care. She was growing a mite impatient with all the hold-ups. "I need to hear what Ignatz has to say about Claude. We have to save him."

"Oh! Yeah! Ignatz was going to tell us what went down!" Hilda yelped. "If you know what happened to Claude already, then you should join us! We'll need all the help we can get in order to rescue Leader Man!"

Hilda reached out a hand as an offer, but the harpy cloaked in a blanket shrank back from it Marianne finally pulled herself together enough to speak up on Byleth's behalf.

"Um, Hilda, we will join you in a moment. Byleth just needs to get ready first…"

The meek woman's words trailed off when she realized that she didn't really have a good excuse as to why Byleth needed time to prepare herself. In Byleth's opinion, her vague statement made the situation more suspicious. Luckily, Hilda accepted Marianne's statement at face value, although not before she winked at the two of them.

"So, you guys are that close? Not that I'm complaining, but you better tell me the story of how you two met after you're done!"

Hilda excused herself with a loud slam of the door. Both Marianne and Byleth stared at its wooden surface with mute shock, although the former also had a blush on her face. Byleth glanced at her with many questions on her tongue, but Marianne interjected before any of them could be spoken.

"Sh-she's just like that. Always seeing signs of romance when there are none. And then on the other hand…"

By shaking her head, she also shook away the rosieness of her cheeks. "Nevermind. Please don't let it bother you. I think I have some clergy robes in my wardrobe that should fit you. You look to be around the same size as me. Just, give me a moment to look around…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl after writing this chapter I'm considering shipping Marianne and Hilda together for this story. They won't be a major focus but there might be something down the line for them~
> 
> Also Claude's letter ended up being a bit of a red herring. :P I want to say that it was intentionally misleading but I honestly hadn't planned much of this current arc when I first brought up the letter many chapters ago.


	24. A Harpy Among Deer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth is formally introduced to the Golden Deer, and plans to rescue Claude are set into motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when writing this arc, I did not plan for this chapter to be so long. In fact, it was supposed to be combined with the previous chapter. But the things that happen here deserve all the detail it can get so oh well.

Byleth ended up wearing a long and spacious set of robes like the ones she wore before, only they were dyed in sky blue and navy blue hues and accented with ribbons and frills. It was made of a lighter and more breathable material too, one that didn’t weigh down her inhuman frame that much. 

Hilda verbally pounced on Byleth’s new clothes as soon as the disguised harpy and her partner-in-crime exited the bedroom. “Wow! You look great in Marianne’s robes!” She exclaimed before turning her pink eyes towards the other woman. “Hey, how come you don’t ever let me wear your clothes? I bet I’d look just as cute!”

Marianne blushed again and muttered something under her breath. Hilda had to reassure her that she was just joking, she knew that Marianne’s clothes wouldn’t actually fit on her. Byleth, meanwhile, didn't really care about what she wore, just as long as it made her look normal to the Golden Deer she was about to meet.

The old cover story about Byleth being a traveling cleric worked out in their favor. She and Marianne ended up telling Hilda that they knew each other through the Church, and Byleth came all the way here in order to warn everyone about Claude. Byleth's vision, according to Marianne, was an omen from the Goddess that couldn't be ignored. Byleth was admittedly a bit uncomfortable sprouting blasphemy to make her disguise believable, but she figured that the Goddess would be ok with some deceit in this life-or-death situation.

Sothis, predictably, didn't mind lying about the nature of their visions, but she had other qualms she didn't hesitate to voice.

"I do agree that teaming up with Claude's allies is for the best." She murmured while floating around the three ladies. "Charging into enemy territory by ourselves is tantamount to suicide. But we  _ will _ have to reveal our identity to them. There's no way we can skirt around this issue while rescuing Claude."

Byleth knew that already, but she had no idea what to do about it. From what she could surmise from her encounters with the Golden Deer, some of them would probably take the reveal well and the others definitely wouldn't. And if she couldn't change the minds of the latter, there was no way she could save Claude with them.

"I wish I can help you in this regard, but alas. My mind is as empty as yours." Sothis pouted. "Whatever we choose to do, you best put it into action as soon as possible. Let's not be like Claude."

_ "What's that supposed to mean?" _ Byleth frowned only slightly, so it wouldn't be seen by the others.

"Oh, I just mean that you aren't good at hiding secrets like Claude, especially during intense situations.”

The pair of women and one harpy wound up in a meeting room of sorts. In the center was a large wooden table and four other people sitting around it. All eyes glanced up to observe the late arrivals, making Byleth fidget under her robes. She waited with bated breath for their reaction, whether they saw through her disguise or not.

“Took you guys long enough to show up.” A woman with orange hair remarked. “Who’s the newcomer?”

“I recognize you!” An indignant, purple-haired man stood up abruptly. “You were trespassing on our premises a month ago! I do not know why you’re here now, of all times, but this is an important, and very private, meeting-”

“Lorenz, chill! She's with us!” Hilda shot him a fierce look that belied her usually bubbly demeanor. The nobleman sat back down almost instantly. “Everyone, this is Byleth, a traveling cleric. She knows that Claude is in danger, and wants to help us save him.”

“Huh?” A bespectacled man widened his eyes in shock. “But I haven’t even said anything- Oh!”

He interrupted himself when he realized who he was staring at. Byleth recognized him as the statue painter around the same time, but neither of them commented on their reunion until Lorenz spoke up.

“Ignatz, have you met this woman as well?”

“Uh, yes? Kinda? It’s a… rather complicated situation…” Ignatz lowered his gaze and tempered his excitement with one answer. If he still wanted to keep quiet about his secret hobby, then she shall too.

“I know you too!” A giant mountain of muscles shouted in Ignatz’s stead. “I rescued you from the fishing pond a while ago!”

“So am I the only person here that didn't meet her?” The sole stranger of the group muttered to herself. Byleth kept staring at her unblinkingly, not just because she was unfamiliar. Actually, there was something about the woman that tugged at her memories, but she couldn’t figure out why…

“Oh yeah! We had a big meeting about this and everything!” Hilda’s enthusiastic shouts snapped Byleth out of her thoughts. “Isn’t it a crazy coincidence that we’ve all met Byleth on that fateful day? Well, except Marianne and Ignatz apparently. Still, we gotta do introductions in case you forgot our names."

The Golden Deer spoke up, one by one, in order to tell Byleth their names. She managed to remember most of them from the last time. The only members she didn't know from before were Leonie, the woman with orange hair, and Lysithea, who wasn't present.

"Speaking of which, where’s Lysithea?” Hilda inquired.

“She’s currently in Alban, doing her best to find a lead to Claude’s whereabouts.” Ignatz seemed like he regained some of his confidence. “Are you all ready to hear what happened there? It's a bit of a strange tale...”

“I still have objections!” Lorenz piped up. “How can everyone tolerate her presence so easily? Just because we met her once doesn’t mean we can trust her!”

“Can you trust me?” Marianne’s quiet rebuttal shook the room nonetheless. Everyone stared at her with expressions ranging from curiosity to confusion to plain astonishment.

“I-I mean, I have reasons to trust Byleth, and Claude does too. Plus she, uh, received a vision from the Goddess about Claude, so I believe we should let her join us.”

“Or she could be tricking everyone. Leading us into a trap." The orange-haired woman objected with a scowl.

"N-no. Leonie, that's not-"

"You said that Claude trusted her, yet he never mentioned in any capacity save for in the context of that meeting. Tell us, what is her true relationship with Claude, and how does it warrant the privilege to sit with us?" Lorenz joined in on the dissent, although his tone was a lot less harsher than before.

It was still too harsh for Marianne to reply properly. "I, uh, am actually not certain-"

"Hey, guys, there's no need to gang up on dear Marianne!" Hilda slammed her hands on the table for emphasis. The impact startled everyone else. "If you can't trust her, then trust me! Because I'm vouching for her!"

"I don't not trust Marianne! I'm just being pragmatic!" Leonie shouted back. "We can't afford to get sloppy when our leader is missing!"

"Maybe if we knew her full backstory, including her relationship with Claude, we would be more accepting." Lorenz added.

"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but would it help if I told everyone what happened to him first…?" Ignatz's voice of reason was sadly drowned out by the growing din.

So Raphael had to bellow out a proclamation to make his friend heard. "Yeah! Everyone needs to calm down! Claude's in danger! We don't have time to fight each other like this!"

Leonie opened her mouth as if she had something to say, then quickly closed it. For a quiet moment, it seemed like Raphael managed to quell the argument at last, but Lorenz had one last thing to say on the matter.

"I'm sorry, but I still do not find it appropriate for this woman to join this sensitive meeting." He said with a sigh. "There's too much at stake, we cannot afford to compromise ourselves now. I do hope you understand, miss…"

"Byleth." The harpy filled in the gap in Lorenz's memory. "And I am aware that I have not done much to gain your trust, but I promise that all I wish for is Claude's safety. I do not want to harm any of you."

All eyes were drawn to Byleth again. It felt nice to be heard as a person, after being talked about like an object of interest for the past several minutes. But now didn't know what to do with the newfound attention. She didn't know how to deal with a group of people that either wanted her here or wanted her gone.

Sothis, however, had an idea. "Tell them what you saw in your vision. In fact, phrase yourself like this…"

"... But if you truly do not desire my presence, then I will leave." Byleth mirrored what Sothis told her. "I doubt there's much more I can gain from his briefing, since my vision already told me that Claude is being tortured by an orange-haired woman in a dungeon of sorts."

"Wait! Don't go!" Ignatz called out before Byleth turned away. "I know of the orange-haired woman you saw in your vision, but I didn't know that she was torturing Claude!"

"So Miss Byleth was speaking the truth?" Lorenz raised an eyebrow.

Ignatz nodded furiously. "Yes. At least, she got the part about Claude's kidnapper right. Please, Byleth, sit with us. I'll tell what I know, and then you can maybe account for the rest of what's happening."

When Ignatz's invitation to Byleth went undisputed, the Golden Deer settled down in their chairs all at once. Byleth, however, remained standing because she wasn't sure how she was going to sit down inconspicuously and also hide her figure. She received several stares and a few invitations to take a seat, but they ultimately let her have her way after she insisted on standing.

"As you all already know, Claude, Lysithea, and I went to Alban to investigate a possible connection to Those Who Slither in the Dark." Ignatz began. "Arturio Regaly, the leader of the bandits we fought around five weeks ago, had a grandmother still living in the city. She didn't have much information for us, but in hindsight, that was to be expected. The 'grandmother' was actually a disguised assassin by the name of Kronya. She was the orange-haired woman that tortured Claude in Byleth's vision."

Actually, all of this was new to Byleth, but she listened intently anyway. She had hoped that the names of Claude's captor and the group she aligned with would explain why she felt so familiar. Sadly, she had no such luck. She glanced towards Sothis, who was sprawled out in the middle of the table like a cat, but she didn't show any recognition either.

"As soon as we figured her out, we were ambushed by a dark mage named Solon. Claude got injured by his spell, allowing Kronya to capture him. They both warped away when… we let our guard down."

"How could you let that happen?" Leonie exclaimed, more in surprise than dismay.

"We were taken by surprise, and they were formidable fighters. Believe me, I wish we could have done more." Ignatz mournfully glanced down at his hands. "I know I shouldn't have listened to her, but Kronya said before she left that Claude almost killed me, and she was bringing him in after he showed interest in joining them. I had no idea what she meant back then, but now that I had time to think about it…"

"Don't even say it." Hilda cut him off before he could finish his sentence. Byleth never saw the cheery woman scowl the way she was scowling now, and it honestly frightened her.

"Claude would never have done that. He's our Leader Man. He wouldn't dream of teaming up with those freaks in a million years! Besides, didn't you see how worried he was while you were recovering?"

"I-I guess." Ignatz, after being confronted by Hilda, could only stammer out his response. "I'm sorry that the thought even crossed my mind."

"Let us move on from that topic then." Lorenz chimed in. "Is there any pertinent information left that you wish to disclose?"

Ignatz shook his head. "No, I think I pretty much covered everything. Byleth, do you have anything to add from your vision?"

She felt a little uneasy from being at the center of attention again, but a sidelong glance to Sothis reassured her. Byleth dug deep into her memories, dredging up any detail that could be useful to everyone.

"My vision showed Claude being tortured by Kronya. He taunted her, made a lot of jokes, and she would hurt him in return…"

Should she mention how Kronya hurt him, by pulling at something on his arms? She wasn't sure how to explain it, so she omitted that part for now.

"Joking in the face of torture sounds like something Claude would do." Hilda laughed awkwardly. "Did you hear anything specific?"

"I don't remember much." Byleth shook her head. No matter how much she tried to recall their strange conversation, only short and vague snippets floated to the forefront of her mind.

"They talked about… Claude's mother. I think. And his blood. Which was the only reason why he was still alive."

"Claude's mom? That's Tiana von Riegan, right?" Marianne asked.

"Yeah, I thought she was dead or something." Leonie nodded along.

"She did pass away, along with the man she eloped with. According to the official story from House Riegan, anyway." Lorenz held his chin between two fingers. "But what is more concerning is the subject of blood. If Those Who Slither in the Dark intend to do to Claude what they did to Lysithea…"

"Hold on. I musta missed something. What did they do to Lysithea?" Raphael asked.

"Yeah, I missed that memo too." Hilda shot Lorenz a funny look. "How did you connect those creeps with poor Lysithea?"

"Ah, it's something she told me once, but I'm not at the liberty to divulge anything when she is not present." Lorenz tried to brush off their questions with a wave of his hand. "Forget that I said any of that."

His flimsy excuse did little to diminish the curious stares all around him, but he continued on anyway. "The point is they may not be holding Claude as a political hostage. They aim to use him for something far more nefarious. Which means, once they no longer have any use for him and his blood, they'll dispose of him right away."

"That makes sense. The assassin mentioned how they were going to kill Claude no matter what." Ignatz said with a deep-set frown.

"What a bunch of bastards!" Raphael slammed his fists on the table, shocking everyone in the vicinity of his shockwaves. "I don't care about what they're planning to do with Claude! I'll bash their heads in so much, they won't be able to lay another finger on him!"

"Yeah! We can't let that happen!" Leonie exclaimed. "Hey, new girl, is there anything in your vision that would help us find him?"

Byleth hesitated, scoring her vision for any helpful clues. She could only come up with one factoid, and she wasn't sure if it would be useful.

"Claude was kept in a dungeon of sorts…"

"An actual, man-made dungeon, right?" Leonie asked, her amber eyes completely fixated on Byleth. "Not like a cave?"

"Yes. It was man-made. Made with old bricks with moss on it." The woman's question helped spurred her recollection. "There were water puddles on the ground, iron bars over the door, two lanterns hanging right outside it, and a masked man guarding it when Kronya entered the cell. Oh, and Claude was chained to a post in the stony ground."

"Was it dark in the room? Were there any windows?" Ignatz furiously sketched a rough approximation of Claude's prison cell while he asked for more details. Byleth was impressed with how accurate it looked so far.

"No windows. The lanterns were the only source of light."

"Hm." Lorenz tapped a finger against his cheek. "From Byleth's description, it seems like Claude is being held in an old fortress or castle with underground dungeons. The Leicester Alliance, being a relatively new country, does not have many buildings that fit the bill."

"And there's fewer that Kronya and Solon could warp to before Byleth had her vision." Ignatz finished his sketch and pushed it towards the rest of the group. "Right before I left, Lysithea was working on tracing the warp spell back to its origins. She said that her tracking wouldn't give us an exact location, especially if they used multiple warp spells to reach their destination, but with Byleth's vision, we should be able to pin them down to any place with underground dungeons in the vicinity."

"That's settled then!" Hilda pushed herself up from her chair. "We need to see Lysithea next! There's no time to waste, not with Leader Man in trouble, so we'll all have to fly there."

"Taking the initiative, are we?" The corners of Lorenz's lips curved upwards in a sky smile. "I must admit, I do like this side of you."

Hilda just rolled her eyes at him. "You better not get used to it. I'm only doing this for Claude, and he's not the kind of man to put me through this again!"

Raphael raised a hand sheepishly. "Uh, what about the people that aren't good at flying? I don't want to slow anyone down!" 

"It's too slow to ride on horseback, so we'll just have to make do." Lorenz replied.

"Raphael, you can ride with me if you want." Marianne told him. "I'm sure my pegasus will be able to handle both of our weights."

"Thanks Marianne! You're the best!"

Having dealt with one person weak at flying, Lorenz shifted his focus to Byleth. "Do you feel comfortable on pegasusback or wyvernback? I'm afraid that if you wish to join us, you will have to fly."

Oh, if only he knew. She could see Marianne flinching out of the corner of her eyes, but that didn't stop Byleth from smiling faintly. "I can fly."

"Good." Lorenz nodded, right before Leonie spoke up.

"And how good are you at fighting? Can you wield weapons? Or magic?"

Those questions gave Byleth more reason to pause. She could cast spells, and she felt like she could also use her talons and sharpened wing feathers to great effect, but she didn't know how she would fare in battle. The harpy had never been in a real fight before, or at least she never remembered being in one. As long as combat was similar to hunting though, she should be fine. She had to be, if she wanted to save Claude.

"I can fight." Byleth replied. The awkward pause after she spoke indicated that the other expected more detail than that. "I know some black magic and white magic spells." 

She quickly glanced at Marianne to gauge her reaction. She had a look of mild surprise on her face but held her tongue otherwise. Now Byleth remembered something that Claude mentioned, how harpies can't usually use black or white magic. Her spellcasting abilities were going to be hard to explain later, but at least she didn't have to explain how she could fight with her wings and talons now.

Lorenz, on the other hand, seemed satisfied with her response. "Excellent. Although it behooves me to allow innocent maidens to accompany us on a mission, your magic won't put you in the direct line of fire." 

"Wow, Lorenz. Way to be chauvinistic." Leonie scowled. "I'm sure that if a cleric like Byleth traveled on the road a lot, she can hold her own in a fight."

The accused nobleman shot a glare back. "I'm not implying anything more than I said! We are up against dangerous foes that managed to capture our leader. We cannot allow more lives to be threatened."

"What he's trying to say is that you don't need to worry about getting hurt when you stick by us." Hilda winked at Byleth. "Just don't try to play the hero and leave most of the work to us."

"Even you?" Ignatz pointed out.

"Yes, even me." Hilda made a dramatic show out of sighing and rolling her eyes. "I'm not so heartless to force a cleric to fight! Come on!"

"And you can count on me especially!" Raphael pounded his chest with a fist. "I'll make sure that none of those jerks harm a hair on your head!"

"D-don't forget me too." Marianne chimed in. "I'll heal off any injuries you might sustain, just like before."

"Thank you, everyone. I'll be careful during the mission." Byleth proclaimed with as much gratitude as she could muster. All the talk about her, all these vows of support, made Byleth feel fuzzy and warm. She felt bad about hiding her harpy nature to everyone, but she had no idea how she was going to break it to them now. She didn't want to destroy this newfound camaraderie with a single utterance. Yet she must reveal the truth to them somehow...

"Then it's settled! Welcome to the Golden Deer! Well, at least temporarily." Hilda smiled as she held out a hand to shake.

Byleth froze with uncertainty. She felt fortunate that an opportunity for a confession presented itself so readily, but she still found herself hesitated. If she accepted Hilda’s outstretched hand, the Golden Deer might reject her violently. If she refused, she might lose what little trust she built up among them. And whatever she decided to do, she had to decide soon. Hilda already quirked an eyebrow upward when Byleth didn't give her own hand back right away.

"Um, Hilda…" Marianne muttered, trying to find the words that would excuse Byleth.

"Yeah? What's up?" Her hand remained where it was, right in front of the disguised harpy.

"It's just… um…"

While Marianne stammered away, Byleth refocused her gaze on Sothis instead, silently asking for her help. Or rather, silently asking if her already-made choice was the right one. The phantasmal girl straightened herself, sitting cross-legged on the same, and wrapped her wings around her body.

"I trust your judgement, hatchling." She said with a nod. "Nothing good will come out of hiding ourselves any longer. If this is the wind you chose to fly on, then I will weather this storm with you."

Byleth nodded, both to Sothis and Hilda, just in time to hear Marianne utter a complete sentence.

"Byleth, um, doesn't like to be touched. You don't need to-"

"Marianne. It's ok." Byleth said with a self-assured voice. She reached out to Hilda's hand with her wing talons, three scaly grey things with sharp claw tips at the end. They managed to brush against Hilda's fingers for a split second before all hell broke loose.

"AHHHH!!" 

"What the-!"

"Hey, what's wrong with your hand? Is it sick?"

"No, Raphael, I think she's a…"

"Is this some manner of a practical joke?!" Lorenz's shouts cut above the rest of them. "Or are you some kind of… monster?!"

"I'm not a monster. I'm a harpy." Byleth unwaveringly told the Golden Deer. She grabbed her sleeves and pulled them up to show part of her feathery wing underneath. Everyone gasped at the sight, although some reacted more violently than others.

"There's hardly a difference!" Lorenz yelled. The faint glow of magic already started accumulating around his fingertips. "I can't believe we allowed such vileness in our home!"

"Lorenz! Please!" Marianne stepped in between him and Byleth. "She's not like that at all!"

"You knew about her? All this time?" Hilda exclaimed incredulously.

"I think the better question is how  _ we _ didn't know!" Raphael let out a short laugh. "I held her in my arms and didn't notice a thing! Except that she was really light?"

“That makes sense. Harpies have lighter bones than humans in order to fly as much as they do.” Ignatz mused out loud. “But I still can’t believe all this…”

"Please, don't kick her out. We still need her." Marianne pleaded with everyone. "You all have spoken to her… You can tell that she has a kind soul like the rest of us."

"I'm not here to hurt anyone." Byleth piped up, echoing her earlier sentiments. She found it more difficult than she anticipated to stay calm under all these insults. "I just want to save Claude."

"A harpy wants to save Claude?" Lorenz squinted. "Pah. A likely story. How did the two of you even meet? No self-respecting noble, not even someone as unusual as Claude, would deign to mingle with a harpy!"

"I broke a wing while saving his life. He took care of me during my recovery." 

She didn't know how the Golden Deer would react to her short summary, but she didn't expect Hilda to say, "Wait a sec. The thing that Claude was hiding was you? The entire time? How did he manage to do that?"

"The rest of the story would take too long to explain." Byleth stated curtly. "Every minute I waste on explanations is another minute closer to Claude's death."

"She's right. We need to rescue Claude, and quickly." Ignatz nodded. Thankfully he seemed undisturbed by the reveal, although his brown eyes still flickered to her sleeve on occasion. "Byleth has already proved herself trustworthy, so we should instead focus on leaving soon."

"She has not proven herself trustworthy! In fact, she has proven the opposite!" Lorenz shouted with a harsh expression on his face. "No harpy would be able to receive a vision from the Goddess like she claims! So how did she get the news about Claude before us? The only possible explanation is if she is aligned with the treacherous enemies that took him!"

"Uh, actually, I doubt that's the case. Those Who Slither in the Dark hates harpies just as much as foreigners. They attacked the prisoner convoy with the harpy, remember?"

Ignatz's rebuttal made Byleth pause. It sounded like the Golden Deer had a harpy prisoner at some point? Yet Claude said that he never met another harpy besides Byleth. That was a riddle she needed to solve later, as the conversation went on without her.

"Yeah, that might be true, but this is a  _ harpy _ we're talking about!" Hilda turned her bewildered eyes to Ignatz. "Half-bird women with poisonous blood and an appetite for humans! You can't trust something like that!"

Byleth was honestly more flabbergasted at how quickly Hilda changed her tune about her than at what she actually said. Moments before, Hilda was gushing about how nice Marianne’s dress looked on Byleth and defended her from harsh inquiries. Now, she was no better than the likes of Lorenz. She was perhaps even worse, due to her sudden role reversal. At least some of the other Golden Deer weren’t as volatile as Hilda, and in fact called her out on it as best they could. 

"I-I don't see why not. Nothing has changed about Byleth, except that we know she has feathers and wings underneath her robes." Ignatz, as calm as he was, couldn't last forever against Hilda's unnerving stare. His words tapered off to a whisper as he reached the end of his conclusions.

"Yeah. And have you ever seen a harpy like her?" Leonie jumped in to save Ignatz. "Blue hair and eyes, pale skin, wears clothes, speaks perfect Fodlanese… If she didn't attack us when she came in, I'd say we got better things to fuss over than her."

"Same here! And Marianne trusts her too, so she's fine by me!" Raphael exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Also, my blood isn't poisonous, and I don't eat humans." Byleth pointed out. "And although I don't know the true nature of my visions, I know that they're accurate. It was a vision that led me to Claude and enabled me to save him right before a bandit slit his throat."

"Are you telling me that you knew him all the way back then?!" Hilda's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. "Oh, I knew he was acting fishy that night! He was probably laughing at our poor, unsuspecting selves."

Despite her jokes, Hilda still had an edge to her stare. Byleth tensed up under her scrutinizing, the feathers underneath her robes standing on ends. Hilda may be the carefree and exuberant friend of Marianne's, but she was also the sister of someone that protected Fodlan from harpies. Byleth couldn't let herself forget that.

Surprisingly, the person who interrupted the silent standoff was Marianne. Her face held none of the timidness she displayed before, holding only a confident sort of desperation.

"Please, Hilda. You were so nice to her before. I promise that she's no different now." 

Hilda redirected her pink gaze towards Marianne. The two women held eye contact with each other, as if exchanging words without moving their lips. Byleth stood there, watching them, hoping that Hilda would see reason in Marianne's plea. Finally, the pink-haired lady broke her gaze off to make a dramatic show out of her sighs and shrugs.

"Ugh. Fine. But only because Claude is in danger and because Marianne asked nicely. I better not get any harpy stink on my clothes in return!"

"Thank you, Hilda." Marianne replied quietly, her smile making up for the volume she lacked.

Lorenz, however, still aired his qualms quite loudly. "Have you all gone mad?! We cannot just blindly accept this creature into our midst!" 

Byleth recoiled a bit at what Lorenz said. She stopped herself, once more, from spouting a nasty retaliation, but her stoic facade showed cracks sooner than she would’ve liked. Those cracks, in the form of narrowed eyes and pursed lips, probably didn’t help dispel the monstrous image Lorenz was painting her as, but she couldn’t not resent his words.

But yet again, the more rational Golden Deer came to her defense. "Hey, if you haven't noticed yet, you're pretty outnumbered." Leonie gestured to the men and women around her. "We can definitely do this mission without you if you don't want to come."

"Pardon me?!" Lorenz huffed indignantly. He was so disgruntled by Leonie's flippant remark, he could do nothing but sputter.

"Yeah! I mean, we don't want to ditch you that badly, but we will if you won't help us save Claude." Raphael affirmed.

"I wasn't suggesting that I wouldn't save him, but-"

"Then please, put aside your pride." Ignatz advised in a soft but stern tone. "Besides, it's not about Byleth, but Claude."

"Come on, Lorenz! if I can get over working a harpy, then you can too!' Hilda cheered. Byleth wasn't sure if her encouragement really helped the issue of her harpy-ness, but if it swayed Lorenz to their side then she couldn't complain.

His frown grew deeper at all the objections. Byleth's first impression of Lorenz, made all those weeks ago, wasn't a great one, and his current protests didn't improve it. She fully expected him to argue further or maybe do something drastic, but to her surprise, he ended up sighing and shaking his head.

"I suppose I have no choice, with Claude in mortal danger. But I'm warning you, I will be watching you closely." Lorenz pointed his narrowed eyes at Byleth. Byleth countered with an indifferent stare. She didn't anticipate anything less than begrudging acceptance from him.

The rest of their preparations went as smoothly as they could with a harpy among the Golden Deer. Byleth stayed apart from everyone else, both to not get in their way and to not unnerve them further. Still, they took a while to ready their weapons, armor, other supplies, and flying mounts. But at least they didn't waste more precious time arguing among themselves. With the threat of Claude's demise looming over them like a morbid rain cloud, the Golden Deer flew off into the still-dark sky in a flurry of leathery and feathery wings.

The flight to Alban was long but quiet. Humans weren't great at chatting while flying at high speeds, especially in the middle of the night. Byleth put some distance between them and her as she trailed behind them. She didn't want to make the journey any more awkward with her presence. But as it turned out, she didn't end up completely alone during the trip. Marianne and Raphael lingered behind the rest of the group because a pegasus carrying two people could only fly so fast. Their reduced speed allowed them to occasionally fall back to check up on Byleth. The brief snatches of conversations were too short to be meaningful, but Byleth appreciated their concern all the same.

The single-minded group, worn out by a night of flying, arrived in Alban with dawn peeking over the horizon. Wyverns and pegasi hovered over the gates, anxious to land, but the Golden Deer had one last matter to deal with before entering.

"So, Byleth, I don't think it's a good idea for you to come with us." Hilda told her. "It's one thing to roam around a mansion's estate, filled with people you know, but it's another thing entirely to walk straight into a city of strangers."

"And not just any city. Alban is known for its impoverished state and distrust towards outsiders." Lorenz added. "If your identity was revealed in these walls, it would become very difficult to control the situation."

"You want me to wait for your return?" Byleth said in a tone that was more of a statement than a question. She had to believe that they were telling the truth about Alban, but she couldn't help but wonder if they're also trying to get rid of her.

"Don't worry, we'll come back!" Ignatz reassured her. "We're just going to meet with Lysithea, then bring her outside the city to introduce her to you."

"And Raphael and I will stay with you." Marianne piped up. Her gentle smile soothed Byleth's fears more than her words.

"Ok." Byleth relented in her usual terse fashion. On that note, three wyverns and a pegasus flew down to the gates, while one pegasus and a harpy descended into a small grove of trees not far from the city walls, but far enough away from watchful eyes. However, just to be on the safe side, she still put on Marianne's dress in case any else passed by.

Raphael collapsed into a tired mound of muscles immediately after he dismounted from the pegasus. "Boy, am I exhausted!" He announced with a booming voice. "How did you two fly all the way here without keeling over?"

"Please don't be mistaken. I'm very tired as well." Marianne sat down next to him, albeit in a more dignified manner. "And poor Sigune is fatigued too. I think we could all use some rest before we attempt to invade wherever they're keeping Claude."

The black pegasus nickered weakly in response to her name while Raphael stretched his limbs before settling under a tree. "That sounds like a good idea. But you know, the flight wasn't all that bad! If my muscles got tired from trying to stay in the saddle all night, then maybe I need to put it into my training routine!"

"Um, as long as you don't hurt yourself…"

Although Byleth didn't voice her own opinion, she was just as haggard from the long flight. The only thing that kept her awake was the knowledge that Claude was all alone and dying in a dark corner of the world. She couldn't rest until she knew he was safe.

"Slow down, hatchling." Sothis's sleepy voice echoed at back of her mind. "Running yourself ragged will just get you killed in the future. You need to keep your senses and wits sharp on a mission like this."

_ "But Claude-" _

"Claude is fine! We will not be if you act so carelessly. So please. Sit down and relax until the rest of the Golden Deer come back."

Byleth had no choice but to follow Sothis's advice. The girl in her head had no way of knowing if Claude was truly alright, yet her reassurance quelled Byleth's fears. At least for now.

The three of them sat in tense silence. Marianne clasped her hands into a prayer, Raphael leaned against a tree with closed eyes, and Byleth forced herself to focus on anything but the vision. If her mind wandered towards Claude's bleeding arms and screams of pain, there was no way she could relax like the other two.

A question arose from her moment of contemplation, one that she asked out of boredom and curiosity. "Marianne?"

The pious woman opened her eyes and set her hands in her lap. "Yes, Byleth?"

"In last night's meeting, Ignatz said something about a harpy in the prisoner convoy. What was that about?"

"Oh." Marianne's gaze drifted from Byleth's face to her hidden wings. "Um… A few weeks ago, we were sent on a mission against Almyran raiders, and managed to capture a few of them, including a harpy. Claude and some others tried to interrogate them, but didn't make much progress, so he was going to transfer them to House Goneril. Except the convoy was ambushed by Those Who Slither in the Dark and all the Almyrans perished."

Byleth sat there in stunned silence. This went against everything Claude told her. Well, he did say that his group captured Almyrans, but he explicitly said that there weren't any harpies among them. Why did he lie about that blatant and important fact? Did he not want her to know that one of her kin was in the same estate as Byleth at one point? Just the idea of being lied to, of being denied what felt like a key aspect of herself, made her head spin. She couldn't deal with this on top of everything else.

"Byleth? Is there something wrong?" Marianne asked. Byleth used her soothing voice to anchor herself back to reality.

"Claude told me he hadn't captured any harpies that time." She confessed. "Why did he lie…?"

"I can't say that I know Claude that well. But he must have a good reason. I think."

A good reason. It felt like he always had good reasons to say what he said, lie like he did, spin tales to deceive her. She was honestly growing weary of all these reasons, but she couldn't let her doubt get in the way of their mission. Saving Claude from certain death required only the best of her.

"I'll have to ask Claude about it when he gets back." Byleth proclaimed.

"That's a good idea." Marianne nodded. "I would also like to know the truth too… Admittedly, it struck me as odd that he would care so much for a harpy with a broken wing, then treat another harpy so cruelly. Then again, she was from an enemy nation and you're not…"

Their moment of reprieve didn't last much longer. Soon after the conversation petered out into more comfortable silence, the furious flapping of wings turned Byleth's gaze skyward. A group of wyvern and pegasi landed next to them, and their riders dismounted to greet them.

"I still don't get why you have to bring me all the way out here. Who am I meeting that's so important?" A short, white-haired woman grumbled with a cross expression. This stranger must be Lysithea, although she wasn't actually a complete stranger to Byleth. She saw her once, roaming around the estate at night with a spellbook in her arms, right before she almost got blasted with magic. Luckily, that encounter became just an amusing memory through the passage of time. 

Leonie interrupted Byleth's thoughts to answer the other person's questions. "Someone who shouldn't be in the city. And it's better to hold our meeting out here anyway, in case more of those goons are creeping around." 

"Lysithea, this is Byleth. Byleth, this is Lysithea." Ignatz gestured between the two of them.

"A pleasure to meet you." Large, pink eyes surveyed her from head to toe. "I've also been told that you were the woman wandering about the manor the other day. If it helps, I apologize for nearly incinerating you."

"Apology accepted." Without thinking, Byleth held out a wing for her to shake. Most of it was still cloaked by the voluminous sleeve, so Lysithea didn't hesitate to reach out her own hand. Her fingers brushed against sharp talons underneath the cloth, causing her to jump back and let out a yelp so shrill, it woke Raphael from his nap.

"Gah!" She held her hands over her chest while frozen in a one-footed pose. "What happened to your hand?!"

"Did they not tell you?" Byleth shot the others an accusatory look before turning back to Lysithea. "I'm a harpy."

"Yeaaah. We didn't really say anything about that in Alban because we didn't want anyone to overhear and…" Hilda punctuated her excuse with a finger dragged across her throat.

Lysithea relaxed enough to bring both feet to the ground, although her shoulders were still tense and her eyes still wide with shock. "Why did you guys bring a harpy here? Aren't they supposed to be dangerous?" 

"Believe me, I've been asking myself that very same question all morning." Lorenz sighed.

"I have information about Claude, and I want to help save him." Byleth ignored that snide remark to reply back.

Her words didn't completely satisfy Lysithea, but she did seem more curious than bewildered now. "Oh yeah. The others mentioned that you had a vision about our fearless leader. Although visions mostly occur among believers of the Goddess. Which, as a harpy, you're obviously not one…"

"I wouldn't say that I don't believe in the Goddess." Byleth interjected. "But my visions are true, even if I don't know of their origins."

"Or maybe you knew what happened to Claude some other way?" Lysithea narrowed her eyes.

"Please, let's not start this argument again." Ignatz did his best to suppress a groan. "We can't waste any time that can be spent looking for Claude."

"Fine, if you guys trust her, then I'll play nice." Lysithea's glare softened just a tad. "But I have one more question. My friends said that you can use magic, but harpies can't cast spells without tools. Was that another lie?"

"No. I can actually cast spells." Byleth wasn't sure what the woman meant by 'tools' but she definitely didn't need any. To demonstrate, she held out her right wing talons, exposing them to the crisp morning air, and hummed the Fire spell's song under her breath. The sigils filled themselves into the spell circle in tandem with the beat and conjured a small fireball at the end of her song.

"I can use Thunder too." Byleth proclaimed. All eyes were on her and her fireball, the biggest pair belonging to Lysithea. She let their gazes linger in the flickering flames a bit longer before snuffing it out. "But I'm not a very experienced mage. I prefer to fight with my talons and wings."

"Eeugh. Imagine getting all that blood on your fingers. Er, claws." Hilda gagged.

"Hey, it doesn't sound that different from gauntlets!" Raphael retorted back.

"This is all very interesting. If we weren't so pressed for time, I'd love to find out how a harpy like you can use the Fodlan brand of magic." Lysithea remarked, paying no mind to the other commentators. She sounded just like Claude with her bewildered fascination, which only made his absence more stark. 

"But we can return to that topic another time. Right now, let's discuss what we actually came here for."

Lysithea wasted no time in pulling out a large map already annotated with notes and circled areas. She spread it out on the ground for everyone to see. "The good news is that the dark mage couldn't have gotten very far with two other people, especially when one of them is injured. Too much warping would kill Claude. And since we know he's alive and conscious, I estimate they were only able to warp themselves twice at most. Now, this circle outlines the maximum range of the mage’s one warp spell, and this circle outlines the range of two."

She dragged a finger along two circles drawn in black ink. The first circle encompassed the entirety of Alban plus a wide berth around it, and the second circle surrounded an even bigger area. Byleth wasn't sure of the map's scale, but she was sure that they wouldn't have time to search through the whole region.

"How do you know the range of the mage's warp spell?" Lorenz asked.

Lysithea's eyes glanced downwards for a brief second before meeting his face. "Kronya may be a lying snake, but she was right about one thing. I've met her partner, Solon, before. He was… the one who made me into what I am today."

Everyone dwelled on those words in stunned silence. Except for Byleth, who piped up with, "What did he do to you?"

Lorenz shot her a scathing look. "Miss Byleth, it would be wise of you to be more sensitive-"

"It's ok, Lorenz." Lysithea cut off him with a glare. "I'm ready to speak about it. I want everyone to be on the same page when we face these monsters."

"Yeah, I'm kinda confused too." Raphael scratched the back of his head. "Didn't you just get sick? What does this Solon guy have to do with you?"

Lysithea took a moment to breath in and gather her thoughts. Unlike Byleth, she didn't shrink from all the attention on her.

"I did get sick, from the plague that swept through Ordelia 16 years ago. As you might have heard, almost everyone in my household got sick, and all of my siblings died soon afterwards. But some of them didn't die from the plague itself.

"At the height of the sickness, an old man by the name of Tomas came to my parents and said he had a cure. My parents were desperate for any hope, so they paid whatever price he asked for and allowed him to do whatever he needed to do with us. In retrospect, it was a foolish mistake. He didn't care about saving any of us. He just wanted to extort all the gold he could from Count Ordelia and use us for his experiments. In the end, I was the only survivor, but not without a price."

Lysithea held up both of her hands. From her palms emitted two bright purple lights that took the shape of strange, angular symbols. The Golden Deer gawked at her reveal, although Byleth had no idea what they meant.

"From all the pain, torture, and blood transfusions, I got the Minor Crest of Noa and the Major Crest of Macuil. But no human body was meant to carry two Crests. The other doctors my parents consulted estimate that I may only have a few more years left to live."

"But you survived the plague." Marianne uttered. "I… I think what he did to you was awful, but you wouldn't be alive now without him."

"That's what we thought at first." Lysithea's stare hardened, although not intentionally. "But when Those Who Slither in the Dark were brought to justice by the Adrestia Empire and the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, they found evidence that they may have brought the plague to Ordelia in the first place, in retaliation for all my house did to help the refugees of Hrym. And worse, the one who 'saved' me, known as Solon in their ranks, wasn't captured in their big raid."

"That's horrible! Absolutely, positively, horrible!" Hilda shouted in a frantic outburst. "Only a heartless villain would take advantage of an illness they caused! We can't let them get away a second time!"

"Of course. When I see that old man's face again, he's going to get what he deserves." Lysithea curled her outstretched hands into fists, snuffing out the magical light emitting from them. "And I hope you don't mind that I plan on taking him on myself."

"Well, I can't deny you after such an impassioned speech." Lorenz nodded thoughtfully. "But don't let the thought of vengeance go to your head. We'll be there to back you up if needed."

"Yeah! We won't let him hurt you ever again!" Raphael pumped a fist in the air.

"Thank you everyone." Lysithea's tone lost its edge, making her gratitude sound more sincere. "But that's enough about the past. Because I'm so familiar with his magic, I was able to track his signature energy to a more precise location. See this red circle here? That’s where I was able to pinpoint him. And this second circle indicates the range of his second warp spell, based around the first area I marked."

These new red circles were thankfully smaller than the previous black circles, but they were still much too large to search thoroughly. Byleth felt Lysithea's pink eyes boring holes on her body, and glanced up to meet them.

"Now this is where you come in. I've been told that your vision takes place in a dungeon?"

"Yes." Byleth nodded. "An old underground dungeon that might not have been used before now."

"I see. Before I came here, I took the liberty of marking abandoned castles and ruins that might hold prison cells like you described." Lysithea tapped on the red Xs that lied within the circles. "But the records in Alban aren't perfect. There may be some that are missing from this map. That's why I have a few more questions for you. When did you have your vision, and how long does it take for your vision to come to pass? Your visions are of the future, correct?"

"I… think so." Byleth answered. She only had one vision before all of this, so she didn't have much to reference. "The last vision I had happened minutes before reality. I dreamt of this new vision of Claude late at night. I'm not certain of the exact time."

"But Byleth woke me up around a quarter to midnight. If that helps." Marianne added.

Byleth nodded along, even though she didn't know if her estimate was right. "Going off of that time, I must have had the vision around 11:30 PM."

"Excellent. So if Claude was wide awake around that time, then I can calculate a range that accounts for the earliest and latest possible times they could have warped..."

Lysithea grabbed a pencil from her pocket and started sketching calculations on the side of the map. She whispered indecipherable words to herself as she moved on from abstract formulas to lines and circles in the middle of the map. Surprisingly, Lorenz chimed in a few times with his own corrections and suggestions. More surprisingly, Lysithea took his advice in stride and added them to her work. The two mages muttered among themselves for several minutes while the rest of the Golden Deer sat there dumbfounded. Byleth didn't have anything to contribute, being completely hopeless at math and magic. Even Sothis was perplexed at their work, although she tried to look like she understood what was going on with nods and murmurs to herself.

"Huh. When did Lorenz get so good with numbers?" Leonie whispered to the others.

"I think he was always good at this sort of stuff. He did attend the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery after all." Ignatz whispered back.

"Yeah. And Lysithea usually took care of these magic problems by herself." Raphael chimed in with the quietest voice Byleth had ever heard from him. "This must be really tough if Lorenz has to help her."

"I got it!" Lysithea shouted suddenly while slapping a hand over a part of the map. Everyone jumped at her exclamation, then leaned forward to peer at what got her excited. Which was nothing.

"Uh, what did you get?" Hilda asked while raising an eyebrow.

"This is where they took Claude, according to my calculations." Lysithea announced with a wide grin.

"But there isn't a castle marked there." Ignatz pointed out.

"Exactly my point." Lorenz nodded. "Lysithea, perhaps you needed to use the variable I suggested earlier, which would land us here, several miles away from your original calculated spot and only a mile away from an abandoned fort."

He indicated another part on the map a few inches from Lysithea's area. His spot had a red X over it, instilling more confidence in the other Golden Deer.

"No, no. Your variable just throws everything off. I'm 100% certain that they warped here." Lysithea glared at Lorenz.

"Who's to say that they didn't warp there and then ride elsewhere?" Leonie mentioned. That comment at first earned some scorned glances from Lysithea and Lorenz, but they calmed down as they considered that option further.

"Hmph. I suppose that's a possibility." Lysithea relented. "We may have to separate and check both locations out at once."

"We are  _ not _ splitting up." Lorenz shot down that suggestion with a harsh gaze. "We need to be at our full fighting strength to prevent further casualties."

"Lorenz's right, as much as I hate to say that." Hilda reluctantly agreed. "Sure, we might waste some time if we check out each place one at a time, but we'll only have one shot at saving Claude. We need to do this right on the first try."

"And the last several times we faced Those Who Slither in the Dark, we were unable to really beat them because we didn't have enough people." Ignatz piped up with a remarkable amount of confidence. "The prisoner convoy, and then the meeting in Alban… We can't make the same mistake thrice."

The other Golden Deer voiced varying degrees of affirmation. With that unanimous decision, Hilda slapped the map in front of her. "It's settled then! Let's head out! Oh, but which place are we going to first?"

Byleth sensed another argument brewing. Not wanting to spend any more time on back-and-forths, she glanced down at the large sheet of parchment on the ground, now riddled with all sorts of letters and numbers. She still didn't understand any of it, so she let her gut instinct decide what to say next.

"We should go to Lysithea's spot first." 

All eyes turned to Byleth as everyone quieted down. She wondered for a brief moment if she warranted such silence because they were actually listening to what she said or they suddenly remembered that a harpy could speak.

"Why there?" Lorenz was the first to resume talking.

"Because I have a good feeling about it." She answered, then added on an afterthought. "And it's the closest to us, right?"

"It is." Lysithea nodded. "I'm glad that someone appreciates all the hard work I went through to come up with this!'

"Er, Lysithea, I don't think-"

"Yeah, let's just go there first." Hilda cut off whatever Ignatz was going to say. "After all, it might be a good idea to listen to someone who had a vision of our beloved Leader Man."

"I'm ok with that! Let's go rescue Claude already!" Raphael whooped enthusiastically. 

“Oh, but our mounts still need time to rest.” Marianne had a hand over the snout of her weary black pegasus. When the winged horse snorted in agreement, fidgeting and growling from the other beasts of burden composed a choir that made the Golden Deer reconsider their hasty departure.

“Er, yes. I suppose some rest is warranted.” Lorenz looked at the animals uneasily. “But let’s not tarry too long.”

“Well, if we’re going to wait, then how about breakfast? I brought some snacks!” Raphael reached into some small bags on his belt and showed off a handful of nuts, berries, and bits of dried meat. 

“Oh, Raphael. I hope you didn’t tire out poor Sigune with all your food.” Marianne murmured.

“Nah, I didn’t bring that much with me! Here, she can have some too.”

Byleth silently watched Raphael pass out goodies to everyone, including Marianne’s pegasus and a few other mounts. She was wondering what those pockets on his person contained, yet she didn’t expect them to hold food. She was doubly surprised by this gentle giant when he approached her and greeted her with a smile.

“Hold out your hands. Or, claws?”

The harpy did as he asked. Raphael proceeded to dump a whole bunch of food into her outstretched talons, taking great care not to spill any of it onto the ground. She noticed that he gave her a copious amount of meat, which delighted both her and Sothis.

“There you go!” Raphael grinned. “You’re flying just as hard as the pegasi and wyverns, so if you need more food, just let me know! I got plenty more where that came from!”

Byleth managed to restrain herself long enough to say, “Thank you.” before ravaging the food in her talons. Despite Raphael’s earlier efforts to keep things tidy, her ferocious consumption sent bits of meat and fruits flying everywhere.

“I like that man.” Sothis announced once Byleth was finished with her meal. “And everyone else here… Well, Hilda and Lorenz could do with a change in attitude, but nobody’s perfect.”

Byleth nodded at Sothis, even though she would look like she was just nodding at thin air to everyone else. Sothis continued to muse while giving each of the Golden Deer a prolonged stare.

“Claude is quite fortuitous to have allies such as these. No, they’re more than allies. They’re friends that would put aside all differences and risk life and limb for one of their own. And now, they are our friends too. With our combined efforts, Those Who Slither in the Dark will have no choice but to fall. Don’t you agree, hatchling?”

Another nod. Byleth felt heartened by the kindness shown by Marianne, Raphael, and Ignatz, the determination of Hilda and Leonie, the acuity of Lorenz and Lysithea, and, of course, by Sothis’s wise words. It even mattered little if the others didn’t return such feelings. As long as the Golden Deer plus Byleth made Claude’s safety their top priority, she was sure that they would succeed.


	25. A Feather Through the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Golden Deer and Byleth infiltrates the base of Those Who Slither in the Dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up everyone, cause this chapter is a wild ride!

Byleth's wings felt like iron weights as she followed Lysithea's black pegasus, but she refused to let them slow her down. She had to keep flying, for Claude's sake. At least she wasn't the only tired from the continuous traveling though. She noticed how most of the mounts of the Golden Deer trembled in the wind, how sluggishly they flapped their wings to keep themselves aloft, even when they all had a moment of rest before taking to the skies once more. Their riders didn't fare much better, as expected of people that stayed up all night to ride to Claude's aid. But they wore determination on their faces along with fatigue, and their strong-willed look bolstered Byleth's flight more than any tailwind could.

Eventually, Lysithea directed them downwards into an empty field. The long blades of grass swayed under the gusts of wind from their landing. With the undulating plantlife and the clear morning sky, this place would have been perfect for a casual outing or a nap under the sun.

Unfortunately for everyone, there was work to be done. Lysithea pulled out the heavily marked map and scanned her surroundings.

"Are you certain that we've arrived at the correct coordinates?" Lorenz surveyed the area with her. As far as anyone could tell, there was nothing here except grass and a few stray rocks.

"I'm sure." Lysithea rolled the map back up. "We just need to look around more thoroughly. Comb the grass and overturn every rock! They must have hidden the entrance somewhere."

The Golden Deer proceeded to shuffle around the field. Try as they might, they couldn't find anything suspicious. Everyone, including Byleth, searched the area for a good while until a loud, frustrated voice rang out.

"Ugh! I don't think this is the right place, Lysithea!" Hilda shouted with furrowed eyebrows and a deep frown.

"We haven't searched that long. We have to keep looking!" Lysithea yelled back at her.

"But we should eventually consider the possibility of searching a different area." Lorenz said calmly, although his accusatory eyes turned towards Lysithea. "It would be pointless to continue our endeavors in a hopeless location."

"Or maybe we should start digging!" Raphael suddenly chimed in. "If Claude is being held underground, all we need to do to find him is to shovel some dirt away!"

Hilda let out a groan at the thought of more physical labor. "Ughhh. Don't even joke about that, Raphael."

"Huh? I wasn't joking!"

"And I still think that it wouldn't hurt to split up, at least for a little bit. Look around! There's no one here to hurt us!" Leonie waved a hand at the grassy expanse surrounding her.

"Need I repeat myself? We are not going to invite failure by splintering our forces!"

"Uh, guys? There's no need to be so loud. Especially if Those Who Slither in the Dark are nearby…"

Despite Ignatz's warning, the peacefully quiet search dissolved into chaotic bickering among the Golden Deer. Byleth decided wisely not to enter the heated discussion, and instead watched them from a distance.

"My my. These Golden Deer sure do love to argue when deprived of a leader." Sothis commented. Byleth agreed wholeheartedly with a nod to herself. This was like the third or fourth time they acted like this ever since she met them properly. She wasn't even sure if any intervention from her would quell this bout of infighting.

As entertaining as some of their lines were, Sothis gradually grew tired of the debate. She fluttered over to a rugged stone to sit on it. "While they're still debating on what to do next, how about we continue our search with a different perspective?"

_ "What do you mean?" _

"Surely you have noticed that these rocks aren't natural." Sothis patted her stony seat. "There are far too many of them here, and nowhere else. Not to mention their surfaces are too smooth and their forms are too geometric. I have a hunch about these rocks that can only be confirmed from the sky."

The ghostly girl pointed a finger upwards. Byleth glanced at the stone underneath Sothis one last time before leaping up into the air and giving her wings a great flap. She didn't fly as high as she could, settling into a steady hover about five stories off the ground and allowing Sothis to float alongside her. She cackled with glee when her theory was confirmed.

"Look! You see? The rocks are arranged in large rectangles, as if outlining ancient rooms of a building."

Byleth's eyes traced over the former walls, now reduced to sparse rubble with the passage of time, as Sothis continued her observations. "A building this big could only be a castle or fortress of some sort. And if there was a castle here…"

_ "... There must be a dungeon." _ Byleth finished for her.

"Yes! Exactly!" If Sothis had hands right now, she would be clapping them.

Voices from the Golden Deer beckoned Byleth back to the ground, but she ignored them in favor of her budding discovery.  _ "So where would the entrance to said dungeons be?"  _ She wondered to Sothis.

"That is a very good question." She replied back with a sigh. "Not all castles are created equal. Without knowing more specific details of the dungeons' creation, they could be located anywhere. Still, if these fiends are using them, there should be signs of activity somewhere within these walls."

Byleth shifted her attention from the rocks to the entirety of the plains. Her broad scanning reminded her of a hunt for prey, except this should be easier. The entrance to the dungeon should be larger than a rabbit or vole, and wouldn't flee under her shadow...

Her sharp eyes focused on a strange patch of grass that swayed oddly in the breeze. Those blades moved too stiffly to be natural, and were too darkly colored compared to its kin around it. As she landed on the not-so-soft ground, she heard a hollow thunk that immediately made her glance down at her feet.

Her suspicions were further proven when she dug her talons into the 'earth'. Byleth could easily pull out the grass and clumps of dirt still clinging to their shallow roots. She managed to yank out enough to reveal an old wooden trapdoor in the ground before footsteps and worried voices sounded behind her.

"Byleth! What are you doing?" Ignatz asked, only to halt in his tracks when he saw the doors. "Or, I guess I should be asking what did you find?"

"It's the doors to the dungeon, obviously!" Raphael whooped with the biggest grin on his face. "Good job in finding that! I wouldn't have noticed anything strange, even if I was standing right on top of it!"

He gave Byleth a hearty slap on the back. She nearly keeled over from the impact. Raphael muttered a quick apology to her as the others worked on clearing the grass and dirt away. It didn't take long for them to completely uncover the door, but then they ran into another problem.

"It's locked." Marianne spoke up after testing the handles.

"I don't suppose anyone's got a master key on them? Or picked up lockpicking as a new hobby recently?" Leonie's orange eyes scanned the crowd.

When no one answered her question, Lysithea held out her hands to call forth a pair of glowing spell circles. She concentrated on them for a while, sigils blinking in and out in existence, before letting her arms fall to her side. "The door isn't booby trapped with anything, so let's just break through. I'm not going to let a stupid piece of wood get in my way!"

"Yeah! Leave it to me! Breaking things is my specialty!" Raphael punched a fist into his other hand to prove his point.

"Hold on! We cannot charge in so brazenly!" Lorenz exclaimed. "We don't know the full extent of our enemy's forces, so the longer we can maintain our element of surprise, the better."

"So how else are we going to get inside, O wise son of Gloucester?" Hilda struggled to say that with a straight face.

Lorenz didn't respond back immediately, instead choosing to fume at her sarcasm. Or maybe he didn't have a good answer for her. Hilda ignored his pointed glare to address the rest of the group. "Well, for what it's worth, I think we should just bust in. We can't waste anymore time when the quickest solution is already in front of us, and those guys are going to find us out eventually. So, Raphael, wanna-?"

"Rwaaargh! For Claude!" Raphael didn't even wait for Hilda to finish speaking. He plunged his fists into the wooden doors, carving out a giant hole that he then enlarged with a few kicks. Splinters clung to his gauntlets and boots, but he didn't stop to brush them off. He just trotted down the staircase without any hesitation. Byleth stared after him, in absolute awe at his show of strength. She never imagined that someone could just punch their way through doors so easily. Although if anyone could do that, it would definitely be Raphael.

"Ladies first?" Lorenz gestured to the women of the group, but noticeably not at Byleth. Hilda and Leonie sighed and rolled their eyes in unison while Lysithea grabbed Lorenz's hand and dragged him down the staircase. 

Between lanterns lit by Leonie and Raphael and tiny fireballs conjured by Lorenz and Lysithea, there was plenty of light illuminating the dark tunnels they marched through. The golden glow all around them didn't soothe Byleth's nerves, however. As a denizen of the sky, she felt trapped between these stone walls and ceilings. She wouldn't be able to fly away if they encountered trouble, and she doubted she could run as fast as the humans. And if she had to fight, she couldn't use her sharpened wing feathers and talons to their fullest effect unless she got close enough to the enemy, which wasn't easy to do if she couldn't fly. The only thing she could really rely on was her magic, even though her handle on the only two spells she knew were rudimentary at best.

The Golden Deer perhaps sensed her weakness, and huddled around her to shield her from unknown dangers. Well, only Raphael, Marianne, and Ignatz stuck close by her. Leonie and Lorenz took point while the two remaining members, Hilda and Lysithea, guarded the rear. Byleth had enough wisdom to not mention the group's discomfort around herself, lest she invited more unease. 

She understood why some of the humans tried to keep their distance from her, and she didn't expect complete acceptance from them yet. It has only been around a half a day since she revealed herself, and most of that time was spent travelling. Still, Byleth caught people staring at her oddly, as if she was a peculiarity, only to turn their gaze when she met them. It was a sign that they saw her as a harpy first and foremost. The prospect of being an ally, much less a friend, was much further down the list of things Byleth was. She found herself hurting especially when she spotted Hilda's occasional looks of disgust. The first time they met, the kind-hearted, pink-haired woman got her out of a sticky situation and offered further help should she ever need it. But now? Hilda didn't even seem like she remembered such an encounter, and refused to see past the feathers underneath Byleth's cloak.

This didn’t matter, though. She had to keep reminding herself of this. Once they rescued Claude, he should be able to smooth over these wrinkles.

They spent several minutes walking and watching out for danger before Leonie's voice broke the silence. "Isn't it odd that we haven't encountered any of these guys yet? They should've come running after we broke in."

"That's true. Raphael wasn't very subtle about it at all." Lysithea murmured in agreement.

"Hey! There's no way to smash open a door quietly!"

"And we should have found something by now." Lorenz switched the topic before Raphael could work himself up. "Tunnels leading to dungeons of ancient castles aren't normally this long."

"Maybe this isn't leading to a dungeon then?" Marianne quietly supplied. "We could be heading towards some kind of underground residence…"

"Wherever we're going, it better not be a trap." Leonie grumbled while squinting at the darkness ahead. 

A beat passed between everyone. They walked onwards wordlessly, only slowing down when Ignatz paused, here and there, to study the walls. He brushed his fingers over the stony surface, obviously carved by human hands with how smooth they were. Around the third time he stopped for a moment of examination, Lorenz halted the procession to turn around and look at Ignatz with a raised eyebrow.

“Well? Did you notice anything peculiar?” He asked.

“Actually, yes.” Ignatz nodded, although he didn’t spare a glance towards Lorenz. “In the beginning, the architecture of these walls were more rough and haphazard, like the tunnel was excavated just to reach somewhere. Not to mention that there were wooden beams that held up the walls and ceilings. But the further we progress, the more refined these walls become. The way these bricks were made and laid indicate that their builders wanted this passageway to hold for a long time.”

“So what are you thinking?” Raphael remarked with a puzzled voice. Byleth didn’t mention her own thoughts out loud, but she too didn’t quite understand what he meant about all this talk about bricks and walls.

“I’m thinking that the first part of the tunnel, the part near the stairs to the surface, wasn't here originally. But now we’re reaching a section that has existed for a very long time. From ancient times, even. Not only that, I think Marianne is right.”

“I am?” Marianne’s brown eyes widened a bit.

“Yes. It looks to me that we’re not just heading to an ordinary dungeon. These walls have too much craftsmanship for that. But an underground residence, unknown to everyone else on the surface? That really boggles the mind! If we weren’t on such an important mission, I would’ve liked to spend more time down here just to research this place!”

“I’m sure you’ll have time to do that, after we clean out all those creepy dark mages.” Hilda scrunched up her face as she spoke.

“Of course. I haven’t forgotten why we’re here.”

As Ignatz explained himself, Byleth found herself wondering about where Claude was being held. She didn’t think much of it before, viewing that dismal dungeon as a prison and nothing more. But if Ignatz was right and there was something more to this place, then maybe it was also related to her forgotten past. Or at least hold something that might trigger some lost memories. After all, that orange-haired, vaguely recognizable assassin, Kronya, was here for some reason. Byleth was willing to chase any connection, however tenuous, to get to the bottom of all these mysteries.

A faint purple glow at the end of the hallway caught her eyes. She whirled around while the other Golden Deer were occupied with Ignatz and the walls. That purple light grew into an enormous fireball of dark energy, and it was heading right their way! In this narrow corridor, there was no room for anyone to dodge it! The two people at the front of the group, Lorenz and Leonie, felt the increasing heat and spun around far too late. Their eyes reflected the sickly violet glow of the dark magic spell just before it engulfed everyone-

The entire world froze, taking on unnatural hues. Darkness became light, and light became darkness. Byleth, disturbed by the colors that shouldn’t exist, tried to blink the scene away. As she blinked, the world shattered like pieces of broken glass. When those shards reassembled themselves, she found everything had gone back to normal. Ignatz was in the middle of his lecture about walls, and everyone else listened with rapt attention.

Wait, didn’t he finish his impromptu architecture lesson already? Byleth rubbed her temples, trying to get a sense of the situation. The last time she saw something like this was a little more than a month ago, when she saved Claude from the bandit. The vision she received back then also showcased a gruesome death, only to shatter when it decided Byleth had seen enough pain. So that meant-

“Everyone! Duck!” Byleth jumped in front of everyone, spell circles already lit up around her wing talons. She had no idea if this was going to work, but she had no choice. Her vision already showed that there was no way to dodge the incoming dark magic missile. She was forced to conjure her own fireball, making it as large as she could with Sothis’s help, and launched it into the dark abyss ahead. Her Fire spell connected with an orb of purple, shadowy flames as soon as it came into view. To her dismay, her attempt didn’t stop the blaze entirely, but it disintegrated it enough by the time it struck Byleth squarely in the chest. The dark magic spell was smaller in size and burned less fiercely, but it still had enough power to leave a nasty, festering burn and knock her backwards onto the floor.

“Byleth!” Marianne shouted as she knelt down beside her. Her hands were wreathed in gentle, white light that she casted all over the harpy’s injury. Meanwhile, the other Golden Deer charged ahead to face the enemy deeper in the corridor. Byleth could hear the sound of magic being casted, arrows being fired, and steel being swung, but couldn’t see any of the battle while she was on the ground like this.

“You were very courageous, hatchling, but incredibly foolish!” Sothis floated above her, blocking Byleth’s stare at the ceiling. “What if your little stunt didn’t work? There were surely better ways to stop our vision from coming to pass! Ways that don’t involve hurtling yourself in the direct line of fire!”

“Sorry.” Byleth muttered out loud. Her apology only deepened Marianne’s frown, but she didn’t say anything until the dark magic burn was patched up as much as time would allow. 

“Please, don’t say that.” Marianne held out a hand to help her up. Byleth felt an agonizing twinge across her chest as she stood up. “You saved us all from that ambush. We should be thanking you instead. How is your wound?”

“It’s better.” Byleth mumbled as she touched where she was hit, marvelling at Marianne’s ability to erase the scorch marks from her skin. Her chestplate, however, had a jagged crack in the front that no magic could fix. The tear didn’t reveal anything, like the mysterious symbol on her chest, but it still made Byleth upset to see damage on a gift from her human friend. 

“That’s good.” Marianne sighed, only to be interrupted by a high-pitched battle cry. 

“HYAH!” Human and harpy directed their gazes to the front, where Hilda just finished cleaving a dark mage with her axe. The bloody body crumpled to the ground in an instant. Hilda spun around, waved, and smiled at the two of them, as if she just didn’t brutally kill someone.

“Hey! Are you guys alright?”

“We’re fine.” Marianne rushed over to meet her. As Byleth followed, she almost tripped on several robed bodies on the floor. She counted only five of them, which she assumed had enough firepower to create that giant ball of shadowy flames but not enough to stand up to a well-trained team of soldiers. Especially when their surprise attack failed. Yet their small number hinted that this wasn’t the only resistance they would be facing during their mission. She thought of mentioning this to the others, but Lorenz beat her to it.

“Let’s not drop our guard again. This was merely a scouting party that saw an opportunity to attack.” He exclaimed while resummoning a fireball to light the way. “Still, it wouldn’t do to get ambushed in these narrow halls a second time. We should press onward as soon as possible. Is everyone unharmed?”

“I’m alright.” Leonie piped up. She hefted the lance in her arms to show she was still raring to go.

“What about you, Byleth?” Ignatz glanced her way. “You took a direct hit from the Miasma spell for all of us. But if you hadn’t stepped in its path…”

“I’m fine.” She replied. As touched as she was by his concern, she was just as anxious to get moving. Byleth forced herself to ignore the lingering ache in her chest. 

“How did you know that was coming, by the way?” Lysithea regarded Byleth curiously.

She fidgeted under that unerring pink stare, but still mustered enough willpower to mutter a quick reply. “Vision.”

“Really?” Marianne glanced at her with a surprised expression that quickly turned into a flustered one. “Ah, I don’t mean to sound like I’m doubting you. I’ve just… never heard of a vision that warns people during an actual fight. Then again, I don’t have much experience with visions in general...”

“Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we owe you our lives. And on a more personal note, I’m sorry that I doubted your intentions.” Lorenz bowed slightly towards Byleth. His reaction made her fidget more, Not being used to such flattery, she was rendered speechless and casted her gaze downwards to avoid more attention. 

Which was apparently fine by the nobleman. “But that’s enough prattling for now. Let us march!” 

“Right behind you!” Raphael concurred wholeheartedly. 

After a chorus of unanimous agreement (for once), the Golden Deer raced forward without hesitation. Byleth did her best to keep up with them, but her harpy legs weren’t built for running. She ended up lagging after them, and had to supplement her sprint with great hops and fluttering of her wings. Her attempts at flight in the cramped space helped a little bit, but she couldn’t hope to catch up with the fleet-footed humans. Flapping around like this would only drain what little energy remained. Thankfully, some of the Golden Deer members noticed how Byleth was struggling, and implored the others to slow down. As important as speed was, it was also necessary to keep someone who had visions of the future around.

The colorful, battered, and yet determined squad of humans and one harpy wound up in a strange room lit by torches on the wall. Their orange glow revealed massive stone pillars that held the ceiling high above them and intricate carvings carved into the walls all around them. But much to everyone’s disappointment, there were no doorways or entrance ways that showed them the path forward.

“A dead end?” Hilda groaned.

“We didn’t come all the way out here for this!” Lysithea grumbled. She waved her tiny fireball around some dark nook and crannies, searching for any peculiarities. “Come on! There has to be some trick here that we haven’t noticed!”

As everyone looked around for something like hidden stairs or switches, Byleth stared at the wall pattern closest to her. The series of swirls, shaped a bit like abstract and feathery wings, felt familiar for some reason. She stroked it with her talons, wiping some grime that accumulated on its oddly smooth surface.

“Byleth.” A voice next to her whispered. She glanced to the side and met Sothis’s wide green eyes. 

“You know what I’m about to say, right? These carvings are like the ones on my stone throne on the mountain.” Sothis also pressed a hand against said carvings. Her usually cheerful face darkened with contemplation. “Where are we? And why does it feel so… nostalgic?”

Byleth didn’t have an answer for her. She just continued to wistfully stare at the walls. A part of her was angry that Those Who Slither in the Dark would use this ancient place as a base of operations. That they would imprison Claude here, and stain these hallowed grounds with his blood. However, like Sothis, she didn’t know why she felt this way. She wasn’t even sure if these emotions stemmed from her heart, or from the girl that lived in her head.

While the two of them walked around to continue their study, Byleth’s talons rapped against a floor tile with a strange, angular symbol carved into it. As soon as she passed over it, she heard a whoosh of air from that general direction a few seconds later. 

Byleth managed to whirl around in time and swiped at the dagger thrown her way with her wing. Her sharpened feathers deflected the thrown knife, causing it to bounce away harmlessly. She narrowed her eyes, to make out who hurtled the object at her, and found a splash of orange hair and eyes in the shadows that the torches couldn’t reach.

“Well, well, well.” The shadows drawled. Out of the darkness stepped the assassin known as Kronya, brandishing a much longer dagger to make up for the one she just lost. Her eyes gleamed like the wicked thing in her hands as Byleth tensed up into a fighting stance.

“I never expected to see you again. How long has it been? Five years? And you look exactly the same, thanks to your accursed harpy blood.”

Byleth froze at the shocking revelation. Kronya knew her, even though Byleth didn’t really know her back. Her stomach twisted itself into knots at the sight of this vile woman, and not just because she tortured Claude. There was a long buried memory that was trying to claw its way to the surface, a memory that was another cause for her disgust, yet all Byleth wanted to do was push it back down.

Kronya let out an infuriatingly high-pitched laugh at her silence. “What, you don’t remember me? How annoying! After all I did to your-”

An arrow from elsewhere flew straight at her head. Kronya backflipped away, leaving the arrow to bury itself into the wall Byleth was just studying. She snapped out of her bewildered state to turn towards the source of the attack. Ignatz had his bow up with another arrow already nocked and an expression of pure fury on his face. The other Golden Deer around him also had their weapons or magic at the ready.

“Kronya! Tell us what you did to Claude!” He shouted.

“Oh. You’re here too.” She sounded considerably less enthusiastic towards Ignatz. “It’s rude to interrupt a reunion, you know. Luckily, two can play at that game!”

As if on cue, a whole battalion of enemy soldiers warped in all around the room, effectively surrounding Byleth and friends. These new foes mostly consisted of mages garbed in black robes and beaked masks, like the ones they disposed of earlier, but there were also swordsmen, axe fighters, brawlers, and archers among their rank. Byleth even spotted a few horse riding lance wielders on the other side of the room, which led her to wonder how those horses got down here. The most prominent new face was an old, wrinkled man with a billowing set of robes and an ornate staff in his hands. Even if he didn’t have clothes or equipment that signified his status, the overwhelming aura of dark magic commanded all the attention in the chamber.

“Solon!” Lysithea cried out. The shadowy wisps around her hands flared up into full infernos. “I won’t let you get away this time!”

“Hehehe. It’s lovely to see you again as well, Miss Ordelia.” The decrepit dark mage only cackled in return.

That was the wrong answer. With an outraged shriek, Lysithea threw her accumulated magic at Solon. Instead of taking the form of generic fireballs, her spells became razor-sharp spikes that bombarded the men around him. Unfortunately, Solon himself dodged the spells with surprising grace. He held out his staff, sigils glowing all around it, in order to summon a swarm of dark, insect-like specks that assaulted Lysithea and Lorenz, who was the Golden Deer closest to her. Lorenz grimaced as he repelled what he could with a wave of his own magically infused hands, while Lysithea continued her assault unabated. The fierce glimmer in her hard stare fueled her spells, with each one more powerful than the last.

“Nngh!” Solon grunted as he endured as much of the magical onslaught as he could. He barely managed to shout out commands towards his assembled soldiers. “Destroy them all, save for that harpy! I want her alive!”

“No! She’s mine! Anyone that gets in my way will meet my blade!” Kronya yelled before lunging at Byleth. The harpy leaped upwards and hovered out of her range.

“You fool! What part of ‘alive’ do you not comprehend?!” Solon shouted, only to be overshadowed by the growing din of battle.

As dark mages launched their shadowy projectiles, Leonie and Ignatz fired back arrows that always met their marks. While soldiers charged at the Golden Deer with flashing steel, Raphael and Hilda drove them with fists and axes respectively. As wounds both magical and mundane were inflicted on her friends, Marianne casted white magic to heal them all. And when she wasn’t healing, she utilized other spells to great effect, either silencing several enemy mages or buffeting nearby foes with icy winds and bolts of lightning.

Byleth could have learned something from watching the Golden Deer work, but she had to focus solely on the aggravated orange-haired assassin in order to not get sliced up. She flew in the air, darting in and out and weaving around Kronya’s dagger in order to lash out with her talons and wings. Regardless of which pointy bits of her body she used, she scored quite a bit of damage on Kronya. The harpy managed to tear the dark fabric of her clothes to shreds and leave deep gashes on her shoulder. With every blow, Kronya winced in pain and held back her taunts to retaliate with a swing of her dagger. Her agonized expression spurred Byleth onwards, made her strikes more fervent. It was what this wretched woman deserved, after all she did to Claude. After all she did to…

Kronya retreated further away in between slices of her dagger until her back was pressed against the wall. Byleth thought that she had her cornered, but the other woman hastily reached down and grabbed the discarded dagger from earlier. She hurled it at Byleth again, but instead of knocking it away, she called upon the rippling magic in her veins and the fiery song in her throat. The fire that blazed forth from her wing talons completely enveloped the dagger and then some. By the time the flames dissipated, the thrown weapon was reduced to mere cinders.

The assassin’s mouth hung open at the display of magic, then she quickly closed it to smirk. “Nice trick, harpy. Too bad you didn’t learn it earlier. You could’ve saved your old man with it.”

Byleth wasn’t immobilized by the jeer like last time. Still, she hovered in place, ready to cast another Fire spell to incinerate her foe. Old man… old man… She knew who Kronya was talking about, but she didn’t want to believe it.

“What did you do to him? Tell me!” She yelled. The spell circles over her wing talons rotated faster with each sharp word.

“Aw, you really don’t remember a thing.” Kronya returned her anger with another retort. “Usually I don’t like spilling secrets, but if it makes the fight more interesting, I’ll tell you.”

She twirled her sword, catching the orange torchlight with every spin. “Your old man is gone. I stabbed him in the back with this very blade. And you could do nothing but fall off a cliff.”

Something was caught in Byleth’s throat. That lump felt like a suppressed scream, tears she needed to be swallowed, righteous anger that threatened to tear her body apart.

She remembered. Not everything, but she remembered.

_ “Run along now.” _

_ “Thanks for all your help, sir.” _

_ The flash of live steel. The sickening sound of a dagger stabbing flesh, accompanied by a pained grunt that stole Byleth’s breath. _

_ “You're just a pathetic old man.” _

_ Byleth screamed and lunged at the girl with the knife as he fell, her anguish sparking a furious fire in her core. All of her senses were overwhelmed by so much anger, she was blind to the ball of dark magic soaring her way. That anger turned into pain, pure and simple, as flicking violet flames engulfed her body and wings. She was knocked backwards, off a cliff, towards the river below. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that her mind went blank before she ever hit the water… _

Another fire within her was rekindled by memories that should’ve remained buried. This time, Byleth used that blaze to screech out a potent song that conjured hot flames over her wing talons. With one forceful throw, then another, she rained fury down on Kronya. She couldn’t let her live after this revelation. Her rage, twisted into a need for revenge, wouldn’t allow it. Unfortunately, her rage also prevented her from aiming properly, and the terrible woman dodged the hail of fireballs with ease.

"Byleth!" Sothis hissed in her ears. She stayed off the battlefield so her ghostly form wouldn't distract her, but that didn't mean she could offer up advice as a voice in her head. 

"Don't let your anger get the best of you! It will render you careless, and carelessness will render you dead! Be like the song of thunder, tempered but ready to unleash power at-"

"Looks like you finally remember me! Good!" Kronya's smug voice interrupted Sothis. In between hops and swerves, she twirled her dagger in a teasing manner. "I honestly thought you died all those years ago, and my boss would probably want to know how you survived. But personally, I’m just glad I get to finish the job!”

She lunged at Byleth again. Byleth ignored Sothis's continued suggestions to stay in the sky, where it was safe, and dove down to meet the assassin. Claws clashed against the curved dagger, causing sparks to fly. She flapped back into the sky, then careened downwards high speeds. At the end of her swift dive, her talons grabbed onto Kronya's shoulders and pierced pale-colored flesh. Kronya let out an ear-splitting shriek that didn’t dissuade Byleth in the slightest. In fact, they only invigorated her as she carried Kronya into the air and rained her drops of blood on the stony floor. 

Byleth intended to drop her from a great height, or maybe dash her against the wall, but her prey’s wailing attracted the attention of other combatants. She noticed too late that an archer had fired off an arrow in her general direction. The projectile clipped the tips of a few feathers on her left wing, destabilizing her flight. Both harpy and assassin tumbled to the ground, the former snapping more feathers in the fall but luckily no bones, and the latter rolling off to the side.

“Hey! I said the harpy is mine!” Kronya shouted at the nearby archer once she stood up.

The archer would have replied back if he hadn’t gotten cleaved by Hilda’s axe the instant he looked away. The lifeless body crumpled to the ground immediately. Hilda pulled her axe out, spraying drops of blood all over herself as she did so, and gave Kronya a nasty glare. 

“Hey, bitch! You better tell us where Claude is, because you don’t have many bodies left to hide behind!”

That declaration, coupled with how Byleth rose to her feet, unnerved Kronya. She took a step back, only to wince when a bad leg buckled from the motion. Still, she held out her dagger with unwavering strength that contrasted the fear that was settling into her eyes.

“Solon! Back me up!” She yelled to the side.

Her request for help went unanswered at first. The dark mage was still engaged in a losing battle against Lysithea. Most of his troops were already defeated by the other Golden Deer, leaving only him, Kronya, and a handful of persistent soldiers. Those men stepped in the way of Hilda and Byleth as they charged at Kronya, but they proved to be no match against the whirlwind of razor-sharp feathers and steel.

Solon grunted as a blast of dark magic engulfed his staff and disintegrated it into floating ashes. He shrank back under Lysithea’s deathly stare until he was almost side by side with Kronya. Even though their predicament was dire, the assassin didn’t soften the edge in her voice.

“Now are you going to warp us out?!”

Her blunt question was met by a tired glare from Solon. A purple aura flared around his hands, leading Byleth to believe the worst was about to happen, but the words that came out of his mouth proved her wrong.

“I have no use for weaklings that would disobey my orders!” Solon snapped. That startling statement was the last thing he said before he warped away, leaving Kronya all alone.

“NO!!” She pounced on the area he once occupied, as if its residual magic could teleport her away as well. Not only did she remain where she was, Lysithea let out a similar agonized scream as she conjured a vortex of dark energy over that exploded in that same area. 

Her powerful spell blew Kronya away. She bounced once, then twice, on the unforgiving floor before rolling to a stop. Meanwhile, her dagger flew towards the opposite end of the room. Although she was battered and broken and bruised beyond all recognition, Byleth did not give her any mercy as she flew after her and pinned her arms down with her clawed feet.

“Where’s Claude?” She growled. Her right wing, which ironically was in better shape than her left, was positioned over Kronya’s throat, poised to cut the life out of her if she didn’t comply.

Despite her condition, Kronya just laughed and spat blood in her face. “As if I’ll tell anything to a monster.”

Byleth moved her feathers closer to the other woman’s skin. If the person in her grasp was anyone else, she might have felt more hesitant about threatening her. But Kronya not only tortured Claude, she also killed her human friend. There was no room in Byleth’s heart for forgiveness.

“I would answer her, Kronya.” Ignatz stepped forward with the same steel in his voice as Byleth. “As much as you deserve to pay for your crimes, we may let you live if you cooperate.”

“You shouldn’t be blaming me for what happened.” Kronya sneered. “The attack on the prisoner convoy, your chest injury, the blame for all that rests on your beloved leader’s shoulders.”

Ignatz’s hard gaze faltered, encouraging Kronya to keep spewing her poisonous words. “Yes! It’s all true! The funny thing is that we would’ve been content with leaving him alone if he hadn’t used our name like that! By dragging us out into the open, he forced us to take drastic actions!”

“Shut up! You’re lying!” Lysithea shouted. Behind her outraged exterior, her pink eyes shone with a desperate kind of despair.

“Yeah! Cut the bullshit already!” Hilda masked her insecurities better than Lysithea, but she still sounded more exasperated than angry. “Tell us where you’re keeping Claude, or I’ll let the harpy eat you alive!”

“Tch. You all are too late anyway.” Kronya rambled on, unphased by any threats. “That mutt has already taken his secrets to the grave. But if you’re itching to find out the truth, then I can help you reunite with him!”

Kronya twisted her body to shake Byleth off of her. Feathers sliced her throat and claws ripped more of her skin, but she wrestled herself free long to grab a third dagger hidden under her shirt. Byleth jumped on her and slashed her face at the same time that Kronya stabbed through her through the heart-

The world shattered. When it reassembled itself, Kronya was still beneath Byleth, her voice oozing contempt during a familiar taunt.

“Tch. You all are too late anyway.” Kronya rambled on, unphased by any threats. “That mutt has already taken his secrets to the grave. But if you’re itching to find out the truth, then-”

Byleth brought her sharpened feathers down on Kronya’s throat. The assassin gurgled, then fell silent. The other Golden Deer behind her let out sounds of varying degrees of protest, but she didn’t feel the need to defend herself. She only yanked her pinions out and brushed off the blood with her other wing’s talons. 

“Uh, Byleth? Why did you kill her?” Ignatz’s earlier nerves faded away at the sight of such brutality.

“Vision.” She replied without hesitation, fully aware that she didn’t explain a thing. She was really too tired, too drained to say much more. Byleth thought she would be relieved to have finally won, to have finally avenged her human friend. Yet the only peace she achieved was an unknown kind of emptiness in her heart. As if killing Kronya didn’t solve anything.

“Don’t forget, Byleth.” Sothis’s warm voice whispered in the back of her mind. “We still need to find Claude, otherwise our victory will be for naught.”

“We still need to find Claude.” Byleth whirled around while echoing Sothis’s words.

“That’s right. There’s not a moment to waste.” Lorenz agreed wholeheartedly. “Is everyone well enough to continue?”

A wave of nodding heads rippled through the Golden Deer. Byleth felt drained from the fight, and was sure that she was going to feel a lot more bruises later, but she couldn’t let herself think about herself. Claude must surely be in worse shape, especially if she delayed the search any longer by asking for healing.

“But where to now?” Leonie glanced around the room littered with bodies, scuff marks, and discarded arrows. “This place is still a dead end.”

“Actually, I don’t think it is.” Lysithea had pulled up several spinning spell circles to examine the chamber more thoroughly. “I’ve detected residual ancient warp magic. Not the kind of warp magic Solon used, but something built into this place. I can’t believe I missed it the first time.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Marianne murmured in reassurance. “Maybe it just hadn’t activated before everyone warped in?”

“I don’t think-” Lysithea stopped herself as she came to a realization. With wide eyes, she wandered over to the back of the room, her spell circles glowing more brightly as she approached a tile with a strange symbol.

“These are warp pads!” The young mage proclaimed. “Floor tiles infused with high-level magic that can warp you to distant places! And there’s a whole bunch of them! Look!” 

She gestured wildly all over the room. At first, everyone was confused by the broad motion, but they came to the same realization when they noticed those strange floor tiles lining the walls, spaced several feet apart from each other. These strange contraptions were undoubtedly how Kronya’s reinforcements were able to teleport into the battlefield.

“Ugh! We just got done with a giant fight! And now we have to go through all these warp tiles? Why can’t they make things easy for once!” Hilda whined.

“I do have to concur.” Lorenz admitted with a sigh. “It will take us far too long to search through these one by one.”

“Maybe we can split up  _ this _ time?” Leonie suggested hopefully.

“But even if we do split up, it might take too long.” Ignatz shook his head. “There’s a lot more warp pads than us.”

While the Golden Deer discussed the crucial matter amongst themselves, Byleth stared at the symbol of one such warp pad. To her, it looked like two crescents facing each other, with spikes and two angular arms jutting out of them. The biggest ‘arm’ on each crescent formed a vague Z shaped. All and all, she couldn’t recognize what it was supposed to represent, but she definitely remembered it from a recent memory.

Byleth raced over to the wall she was studying before the fight broke out. The clacking of talons on the hard, stony floor attracted the attention of the Golden Deer. They dashed over to her side, and to the warp pad she had obliviously passed over earlier.

“Kronya used this tile to teleport in.” She explained to the others.

“Well, that’s as good of a lead as any. Seeing as she was the last one to see Claude and all.” Leonie shrugged. “How do we use it though?”

“It’s very simple. All you have to do is-”

Byleth didn’t wait for Lysithea’s explanation and just stepped on the tile. In a nauseating flash of light, she felt her surroundings shift and churn until it settled into the nebulous form of a dark hallway. Byleth hurriedly stepped off the warp pad and took a moment to regain her bearings. Once her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, she noticed a pair of wall torches burning at the end of the pitch-black corridor. Those torches were familiar to Byleth, which could only mean one thing.

“Claude!” She shouted. She couldn’t even wait for the rest of the Golden Deer to warp in. She just ran towards them as fast as she could. When she arrived at the torches, iron bars blocked the rest her way, but she could still see through them and lay her eyes on a man’s eerily still figure. Crimson blood mingled with water puddles on the floor, and floating atop of the pools were… Byleth squinted at whatever they were. They looked like crushed feathers, but why would they be down here?

Hurried footsteps arrived at the scene soon after her. Lysithea held a hand over the lock, and with a quick burst of dark energy, blasted it to bits. As soon as the door swung open, Byleth rushed over to Claude and knelt down next to him. Her wing talons gripped his bare arms, slick with blood, peppered with more of those weird things, and marred with deep slices that reached from his shoulders to his wrist. His skin was cold and clammy from all the blood loss, causing her heart to seize up in her chest. She flipped him over so he laid on his back and pressed her wings against his own heart. Upon feeling his weak heartbeat, she let out a relieved sigh.

“Is he…?” Ignatz whispered tentatively.

“He’s alive.” She responded, then added as an afterthought, “Barely.”

“Oh, by the Goddess, please…!” Marianne crouched down beside Byleth and Claude and pressed her hands on the latter. She murmured a desperate prayer to the Goddess as pinpoints of white magic shrouded Claude like a veil. She kept up her spell as long as she could and managed to close the gashes all over his arms, but her healing touch could not warm up his skin nor wake him up.

While she worked, Lorenz eyed the fluffy scraps scattered across the floor. “I don’t mean to interrupt your vital work, but are these… feathers?”

“They got all over Claude too. Gross!” Hilda bent over to brush a bunch of them off his arm, only to find that they remained stuck to him. A sudden realization dawned on her, on Byleth, and everyone else in the room. She backed off and held both of her hands up to her mouth, her pink eyes wide with horror.

“No… He can’t be…”

“Guys, my spell isn’t working.” Marianne lifted her trembling hands off of Claude. “He’s lost too much blood… there’s no magic that can fix that.”

Her proclamation chased all thoughts of feathers out of their heads. Lorenz knelt down, not minding the blood and water splashing on his armor. “Perhaps you’re just too exhausted from the earlier battle? Let me try.”

His hands glowed with a similar aura to Marianne’s. His prayers to the Goddess were more dignified than hers, but no less pleading. Yet he was unable to rouse Claude from his slumber. Then Lysithea gave her magic a shot, to no effect. Even the combined efforts of all three magic users couldn’t do anything for the dying man.

“Please… no…” Byleth found herself uttering those feeble words. An unexpected moistness gathered at the corner of her eyes. She laid her own wing talons on Claude and focused on his familiar features. He may be growing feathers on his arms and behind his ears for some unfathomable reason, but he was still Claude. She needed him to come back. She didn’t know what she would do without him. That despair gave her the drive she needed to warble out the song that he enjoyed so much.

_ “The Heavenly Lights gaze upon the flames, _

_ Washing dark ashes away like the rain. _

_ Pinpoints of green turn their eyes to afar, _

_ Thanking their lifegiver among the stars.” _

White light formed around her wing talons like before, and settled all over Claude like before. She felt his heart beat a little faster at her song, causing her own heart to thump in anticipation. Claude’s eyes twitched underneath his eyelids before opening up by a miniscule amount.

“By… leth…?”

Everyone gasped. Byleth pulled him into a hug. The budding wetness grew into full-fledged tears, but she didn’t care that she was crying all over him. A weak hand brushed teardrops off her cheek as Claude breathed into her ear.

“Don’t… cry… I don’t… don’t... deserve…”

His arm fell limp. His eyes closed once more. His lips parted to say his final words. “At least I got… to hear you… one… last…”

“No! Don’t say that!” Her grip on him tightened, but their warm embrace couldn’t reawaken him. Claude’s heartbeat slowed down again, until this time, it stopped all together.

Byleth couldn’t even say anything to rouse him, thanks to the catch in her throat. But there was something else she could do for him. She gave him one last hug before setting him down again. If her song was the key to saving him, she needed to pour every ounce of her soul into it. Yet her free flowing tears clogged up her vocal chords, reducing her usually sonorous words to sad hiccups and stuttering.

_ “N-never f-forget the heaven’s gift of life. _

_ Ancient s-starlight bless all th-they reach, _

_ And s-save the… the...th...” _

She couldn’t even finish her verse. She dissolved into a crying mess on Claude’s cold shoulder. Around her, Ignatz, Marianne, and Hilda also wept, while Lorenz murmured a prayer for the dearly departed in between sobs.

“Byleth.” Sothis’s voice echoed in the back of her mind. “Byleth, cease your tears. This isn’t the end.”

_ “Not now, Sothis.” _ She snapped at her.

“I didn’t mean that!” Sothis’s sharp tone manifested herself into existence. “There is a way to save him! But your heart needs to be strong for this. I cannot have you bawling like a baby.”

She glanced up at her. Byleth wiped her tears away as best she could, although if this girl didn’t explain herself soon, the waterworks might start back up again.

“That’s much better.” Her encouraging words belied her worried expression. “If blood is all that Claude needs, then we shall give him ours. But this spell… It has never been performed before in a case like this. There’s no telling what might happen to you, me, or him. He might expire anyway, or you might take his place, or I might even cease to exist. 

“Byleth. Are you ready for what this might wrought?”

“Yes.” She answered out loud. She felt startled gazes turning her way, but they were nothing compared to glimmer of hope Sothis had offered her.

“Good. Now, take one of your flight feathers, sharpen it, and repeat after me.”

Byleth did as she was advised. A long grey feather, coated with preening oil, rested in her wing talons as a wondrous song echoed Sothis’s haunting voice.

_ “O Fire Emblem, _

_ Holy blood of mine, _

_ I call upon thy blessed name, _

_ For power divine.” _

Mimicking Sothis’s motions, Byleth stabbed her feather through the scratch in her chestplate and into her heart. She heard gasps and exclamations all around her, but they were soon drowned out by magic rushing through her veins. The strange symbol that adorned both Byleth and Sothis faded into view, blinking in unison with her pounding chest. With each heartbeat, blood that glowed a brilliant white trickled onto her feather. Although the blood stayed within the feather’s barbels, its light spread all over Byleth’s body, encasing her in a holy aura that blinded onlookers. Her hair fluttered on an invisible breeze created by the sheer amount of energy of her spell. 

The next few verses of the song had no discenerable lyrics to them, yet Byleth and Sothis sang on. The harpy vocalized long, drawn-out notes that stepped up and down in pitch while the child chanted a steady beat in her ancient tongue. Throughout this harmony, Byleth slowly pulled her feather out of her chest and let droplets of light fall onto Claude’s body. The feather, which was once a dull grey color, shone brightly like her divine blood and took on iridescent hues of blue, green, and purple.

_ “As we walk along the path that is the flow of time, _

_ Our twin fates weave together and intertwine. _

_ Let no blade nor evil plots block the river’s course. _

_ I bequeath unto you this gift forever yours.” _

She plunged her feather-dagger into Claude’s heart. Someone behind her yelped in protest. She kept her grip on her feather to hold it up, like a luminous beacon in the nightmarish dungeon. Its mythical aura grew in radiance, blanketing Claude’s body until he shone just as much as Byleth. 

_ “Return to me. Stay by my side. _

_ We will stand strong against the changing tides. _

_ You seek the truth. I wish for what’s lost. _

_ Together we shall face the cruel world’s true cost.” _

When Byleth let go of her feather, it disintegrated into sparks of light that rained down on Claude’s bare chest and dissolved into his skin. Once all the glimmering specks vanished, the aura that encased both Byleth and Claude faded alongside them. The room was quiet for a few tense seconds. Byleth found herself sweating and panting heavily. If the stabbing of her own heart didn’t exhaust her, her spell and spirited song afterwards certainly did. But strangely enough, she felt no pain from her chest. Not even a twinge. The only obvious sign of her performance was her hair, which seemed lighter in hue, but she couldn’t tell what color it became in this dark prison cell.

The tranquility was broken by Claude’s hoarse cough. With each hack, he spat out glowing drops of saliva and blood. For one miraculous moment, it looked like he coughed himself awake, but that hope was dashed when he rested his head against the cold floor once more. Still, Byleth could feel his heart thumping vigorously under a gentle touch. He was alive. That was all she could ask for.

With her mission accomplished, she felt her eyelids shuttering under the heavy weight of fatigue. As Sothis let out a yawn, Byleth keeled over onto Claude’s chest, marvelling at how warm he was compared to minutes ago. Voices behind her murmured something, either in awe at their leader’s extraordinary recovery or in concern for the harpy’s wellbeing. Yet those whispers faded away as Byleth drifted into a peaceful slumber.


	26. A Lonely Mountain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude meets a familiar someone in a strange dream.

A gentle breeze tickled Claude awake, but his surroundings were so bright, he couldn’t open his eyes until the wind’s embrace became unbearable. With a grunt, he slowly peeled his eyes open and took in the wonderful sight of blue skies and white fluffy clouds.

His first thought was that he was in some sort of afterlife, which was not a great thing for a non-believer of the Goddess. Was he going to face some sort of judgement and then get thrown into the Eternal Flames for his heretical beliefs? Claude wanted to close his eyes again and go back to sleep to forget about the damnation that awaited him, but the wind still kept him awake with its tickling.

No. It wasn’t the wind that was tickling him. He waved away the grey feather that brushed against his skin. It floated leisurely around his arms for a second before soaring into the distance and disappearing from view.

Even though he got rid of that bothersome thing, he couldn’t fall asleep if he tried. Claude wasn’t feeling that drowsy anymore, thanks to the feather’s efforts. So he straightened himself, took in the sights around him, and frowned when he saw that he was on top of a mountain. This mountain was so tall, it was wreathed in clouds that obscured all other mountains that should have been around it. But despite his altitude, the air around him was pleasantly cool and not at all biting.

That wasn't even the strangest thing Claude had noticed. His perceptive eyes landed nearby a throne of stone, with abstract patterns carved into it, and in that throne rested a familiar harpy.

“Byleth?!” Claude scrambled over to her. Or at least, he was pretty sure that was her. There was no mistaking her fair skin, choppy hair, ashen plumage, and ebony chestplate, even when her hair was now the color of freshly sprouted grass instead of its usual dark teal hue. 

With how motionless she was, Claude feared that she might be dead, but the slow rise and fall of her chest proved otherwise. He let out a sigh of relief. He had no idea how Byleth got here, or why he was here. The last thing he remembered was passing out from the painful procedure that was blood letting. But he was ok with being anywhere besides that dreadful dungeon, especially since Byleth was with him now. He reached out a hand to wake her up with a soft touch, only to be interrupted by a haughty voice.

"Nuhuhuh. I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Claude glanced at the source of the voice, a young girl resting her elbows on the throne's back and her head on her hands. Her verdant locks were longer and a darker shade than Byleth's, and they matched the color of her eyes and the great feathery wings that sprouted from her back. There was only one person Claude knew of with both wings and arms, although he didn't think he would be meeting her anytime soon.

"You must be the famed Sothis." He eventually said.

"I am. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Sothis flapped her wings to jump over the throne and perch on one of its armrests, right next to the sleeping Byleth. “Because we have much to talk about.”

Now that she wasn't hiding the rest of her body behind the throne of stone, Claude could take in the ornate yet odd clothes that garbed her being. He of course noticed the bold red and navy blue hues of her dress, the golden adornments that chimed in the breeze, and the whimsical pink and white ribbons in her hair, but the thing that caught his attention most was emblazoned in the front and center of everything. That curving, looping symbol matched the mysterious insignia that he once saw on Byleth's chest.

However, nothing about her unearthly appearance answered the many questions he had. "I bet we do. For starters, how am I able to see you? How did I get here? And why is Byleth's hair green?"

"I'm assuming that the answer to those questions lay in one reason." Sothis nodded towards Byleth. "You were dying, and she used a spell to transfer some of her blood to you."

Claude paused in order to digest her response. Now he remembered a bit more of what happened. He vaguely recalled Byleth's wing talons cupped around his head, her tears that he had never seen her shed before, his own voice trying to quell her sorrows…

After that, nothing. If anything, he was left more confused than before. Claude never heard of a spell that transferred blood from one person to another, and such a spell shouldn’t be able to revive someone who had been drained entirely. 

And then there was the most obvious question of them all. "But how did she find me in the first place?"

Sothis sighed loudly, as if she didn't really want to reply to him. "Well, I suppose now that we share an invisible bond though our blood, Byleth and I cannot hide the truth from you any longer."

"What?" He blurted out. Sothis and Byleth were keeping something from Claude? Now there was a surprise.

"Both of us can receive visions of the future. In fact, it was a vision that led Byleth to rescue you from the bandit, all that time ago. After you were captured by Kronya and Solon, Byleth had a vision detailing your torture. Instead of using the letter you gave her to flee to parts unknown, she joined with your friends, the Golden Deer, and staged a rescue. And the rest is history, or so they say."

Claude stared at Sothis incredulously. That was a lot of surprises she dumped on him all at once. He was left without words for once, only a dumbstruck expression.

Byleth could see the future. Yet somehow, that wasn't the most shocking revelation that was revealed. Claude had a feeling that her visions didn't happen very often, perhaps only in the most dire of situations. Otherwise she would have reacted differently to a great many occurrences throughout the time he knew her. So that was an interesting ability he could safely shelve away for later conversations.

No, what startled him more was the fact that she teamed up with the Golden Deer to save him. A harpy cooperated with humans. Or, was it more unusual that humans cooperated with a harpy? Either way, Claude thought all this time that such a reveal would spell a death sentence for Byleth. To hear that his allies allowed an 'abomination' into their midst and actually succeeded in finding and saving him…

Claude was wrong about his friends. There was no other explanation around it. But he didn't mind that he was proven wrong. On the contrary, he burst into laughter that rang out in the vast cloudy expanse around them.

"What's so funny? That spell didn't addle your brain, did it?" Sothis gave him a concerned look. 

"I've never been better!" Claude said in between laughs. "It's just that all this time, I was afraid that someone would find Byleth out and kill her. But I was wrong! I never had any reason to worry! It's just a massive relief, a weight off my shoulders."

"I wouldn't say such things so confidently." Sothis shook her head. "When Byleth revealed herself as a harpy to the Golden Deer, she was met with a lot of resistance. I believe that your Deer only banded together for your sake. If she showed up in any other situation, who knows how events might have played out?"

Claude's laughter died down as he inhaled the fresh mountain air. Sothis's logic was sound, but it didn't dissuade his surge of optimism "Even so, just the fact that Byleth worked with the Golden Deer is incredible. It shows that harpies and humans can coexist. And then maybe..."

His right hand unconsciously grabbed onto his left forearm. With a start, Claude realized that he felt something poking through the fabric of his shirt. He turned around so Sothis couldn't see him rolling up his sleeves and confirming his suspicions.

His feathers didn’t just come back. They grew back completely, with a healthy luster that Claude hadn’t seen in a long time. Before Kronya forcefully plucked them out, his pinfeathers were growing feeby and spindly, due to damage accumulated from dutiful plucking over the last six years. But now they were voluminous and wholly intact, covering the entire length of his arms from his shoulders to his wrists like a thick pelt of fur. Although they appeared a rich brown color in normal lighting, a wave of shimmering gold washed over them when they caught the sunlight at just the right angle. Claude brought his hands up behind his ears to feel the feathery crests that jutted past his hair. They were too tall to hide with a simple headband now. He would either have to wear a different kind of hat or pluck them all out again. 

Claude found himself flinching at the latter thought. After all he went through, he wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to yank out his own feathers so soon, even though he would be a lot more careful than his torturer. But he had to face his fears sometime. He couldn’t just walk among humans with all these feathers…

“Why are you hiding from me?” Sothis’s curious voice was suddenly too close for comfort. Claude jumped in place and instinctively pulled his sleeves back over his feathers. When he turned around, Sothis was right behind him, floating several feet in the air by a mysterious force that didn’t come from her wings.

“Hmph. There’s no need for that. Everyone, including myself, already saw your feathers.” 

Claude’s heart stopped at that bit of news. In hindsight, he should have figured that was the case. It wasn’t like his captors were going to put a shirt on him after draining all of his blood. And yet, all he could squeak out was a single word.

“E-everyone?”

“Yes. The Golden Deer, Byleth, and I. Although the broken and bloody pinfeathers we saw were a far cry from your usual magnificent plumage.”

Sothis’s eyes flitted to the feathers on Claude’s head. He subtly pushed them down and brushed some hair over them so they wouldn’t be so obvious. “Magnificent, huh…?” He found himself murmuring.

“Mmhmm.” Sothis nodded. “Although they aren’t as colorful as my own feathers, there’s a distinct regalty to them. They suit you well. It’s only a shame that you want to hide them from the world.”

Her kind words couldn’t pierce through the haze of doubt that clouded Claude’s mind. He never could have imagined that having his true self out in the open could make him feel so vulnerable. All Claude wanted to do was hide himself again, take a moment to recollect himself and maybe come up with a cover story that could fool everyone. But there was no running away from Sothis’s piercing gaze nor the lonely mountain they stood on.

And if he couldn’t deal with this now, during what he presumed to be a weird dream, then how was he supposed to deal with this in real life? Claude breathed deeply to calm his nerves. Regardless of how he was going to cope with this plot twist, he couldn’t look like a frightened child any longer.

“How did everyone react to them?”

“Well, firstly, everyone was obviously more concerned about keeping you alive!” Sothis scoffed as if he asked a dumb question. “Then, they were all very shocked and confused about, well, everything. Especially Byleth, the poor hatchling. You have a lot of explaining to do when you awaken.”

Claude inadvertently let out a loud groan. This wasn’t good at all. There was no doubt that the Golden Deer was going to be upset at him once he returned to the waking world. True, he did feel a glimmer of hope for his unique situation when he heard how they tolerated Byleth long enough to accomplish their rescue mission, but then everything else moved too quickly. His own secrets were forcefully yanked out of him, like the pinfeathers Kronya pulled at as a form of torture, and now he had no choice but to face whatever the incoming storm brought. 

And that wasn’t even taking into account how Byleth was dealing with this mess. A pang of guilt stabbed his heart like a thorn as Claude glanced over at the slumbering harpy on the throne. She looked so peaceful now, but there was no doubt that she must be a mess in the waking world. If only Claude hadn’t lied about so much earlier...

Sothis must have noticed his forlorn look, as her inquisitive voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “What happened to your earlier optimism, mockingbird?” 

“What did you call me?” He squinted his eyes at her.

“Mockingbird. It’s a rather fitting title, seeing as you are a man that would sing any other song but his own.”

Claude opened his mouth to object to that comparison, but then decided that he had better things to argue about. “Well, I can’t be too terribly optimistic anymore. It’s one thing for the Golden Deer to tolerate a harpy that would help them on their mission. It’s another thing entirely to find out that your leader has been lying to you for the past six years. If they knew I was half-harpy from the start, they would never have wanted to be near me. Not by a long shot.”

“Oh, so you’re half-harpy?” Sothis tilted her head. “I was wondering how a human like you grew feathers.”

Claude inhaled through clenched teeth. That was something he didn’t mean to blurt out in front of someone as clever as Sothis. Now more than ever, he wanted to wake up from this dream that was quickly becoming a nightmare. 

“Still, I am of the mind that you’re being too harsh on yourself. Surely your friends are looking for reasons to trust you again, rather than reasons to distrust you. Bonds forged from trials and tribulation aren’t so easily broken, after all.”

“That’s the thing. I can’t give them reasons to trust me.” Claude said bitterly. “My blood has been tainted by ‘vileness’. I’ve been lying to them ever since I knew them. And then, if they knew the lengths I went to to hide some of my lies...”

Sothis looked like she was going to ask what his last sentence meant, but reigned in her curiosity at the last second. Instead, she objected to his self-deprecation. "But you're still Claude von Riegan. You're charming, compassionate, and understanding. Those are the qualities that made Byleth fall for you. Not your secrets, nor your feathers."

"Wait a sec." Claude blinked at what he heard. "Did you just say that Byleth has fallen for me?"

"Yes! She is absolutely, positively smitten by you! Did you didn't know? I thought it would be obvious to someone of your acuity!"

Claude opted to not respond to that directly, choosing only to watch the slumbering harpy on the throne. He admittedly had an inkling of Byleth's feelings, but hadn't really focused on them (or his own feelings) until she declared that she was staying with him. After that, he had been testing the waters with bolder remarks and more intimate activities, with the intention of building up to the day when he could finally muster the courage to tell her everything.

Of course, life rarely flowed that smoothly. His own kidnapping skewed those plans, and now Claude doubted if things will ever be the same between them. The thorn of guilt only dug deeper into his heart when he learned from a credible source that Byleth was nursing a fierce crush for Claude. 

When Sothis also turned her gaze towards Byleth, Claude knew what she was going to say next, yet he still winced from her harsh words.

“When were you going to tell her the truth? She deserves to know, after all she did for you.”

“I was getting there. Eventually.” Claude muttered. "And I would have done anything to prevent her from finding out the hard way."

"You should have told her earlier then." Sothis scowled as she crossed her arms. "I imagine she would have been delighted to find some sort of kinship with you. But now…"

Her next part must have been difficult for her to say, judging from how she folded her wings over her body and wore it like a second dress. "Byleth heard that your militia group had fought and captured harpies a few weeks ago. She figured out that you lied to her about the nature of your mission and withheld the fact that you battled against Almyran harpies. Now, I'm afraid she doesn't know what to make of you. She cared about you, trusted you, and you returned the favor by lying in her face.”

"Believe me, I'm not too terribly proud of that." Claude averted his gaze from Byleth to stare at the ground. "And there's more to that story that meets the eye. I'll explain everything when I wake up."

"Well, that's a start." Sothis hummed in satisfaction. "Will you also tell her that you're from Almyra?"

"Whatever do you mean by that?" Claude said in an innocent tone. Although he aimed to clarify all the misconceptions that Byleth might have, he wasn't about to reveal everything about himself. He already grew antsy about being forced to talk about certain secrets. He wasn't sure if he could bear placing his heart on a taller pedestal.

But apparently, he didn't have much choice in the matter. Sothis let out a sound that was a cross between a scoff and a laugh. "Don't play dumb with me, mockingbird! Where else would your harpy lineage come from? Unless you intend to tangle yourself further in your web of lies by pretending to be descended from a Fodlan harpy."

Claude admittedly thought about using that lie, but he quickly realized that it wouldn’t work on the Golden Deer. To them, the word ‘harpy’ was synonymous with barely sentient Almyran beasts that preyed on hapless humans. Sure, they might have managed to separate Byleth from her eastern kin, but he doubted that they would extend the same courtesy to him. Once the seeds of doubt were planted in their minds, all it would take was one look at his tanned complexion, dark hair, peculiar preferences, and of course his conspicuous harpy feathers. Then those seeds would bloom into flowers of distrust that Claude wouldn’t be able to prune back with his silver tongue.

On the other hand, Byleth might fall for such a lie easily, but that would work against his goal of being honest. If only Claude hadn’t vehemently denied that he wasn’t from Almyra earlier. Of all the people he met in Fodlan, Byleth was the one of the few that didn’t view the neighboring country with disdain. But now, that just meant Claude would have to undergo the painful process of taking his deceitful words back.

“Hm. With how quickly you fell silent, I must be correct.” Sothis leaned forward with a slight smirk on her face. “In hindsight, your heritage was quite obvious. For a son of House Riegan, you showed uncommon interest in Almyra and its harpies. Why, you even enjoy pine needle tea from there!”

“Or maybe Almyran pine needle tea can be enjoyed by anyone.” Claude smirked back. 

“You know what I mean!” Sothis scowled. “The point is, if Byleth wasn’t such a naive and gullible hatchling, she would have picked up on this long ago!”

“Hey, give her some slack! My friends in the Golden Deer knew me for six years and they never suspected a thing!”

“Pfft. Apparently, I must be the only clever person in existence then.” Sothis blew a tuft of hair away from her face. 

“So, if you felt so strongly about your theory, why didn’t you bring it up with Byleth?”

“I did. Multiple times. But each time, Byleth shrugged me off and chose to not pry any further into your matters. She let you keep your secrets because they weren’t as important as you.”

Claude actually had no idea how to respond to that. He just glanced towards Byleth, not in hopes of finding the answer there but just in complete awe. Back in the dungeon, while Byleth cried all over him, he must have realized this on some level. And what he mumbled during his would-be last moments still held true. He really didn’t deserve this harpy in his life. A fresh and painful wave of guilt surged forth from the thorn still buried in his heart.

“Claude.” Sothis’s voice redirected his attention back at her. “It seems as if you recognize the value of that sentiment. I trust that you will repay it by telling her the entire truth?”

“... I will.” Claude answered after some hesitation. He hoped that Sothis didn’t notice it, because he would have a tough time explaining why he still had some trepidations after such an insightful talk.

“Good.” Sothis clapped her hands together gleefully. “Then it’s time for you to wake up. Such a important conversation cannot be delayed any further.”

“Right now?” 

"Yes, right now. What reason is there to tarry?" 

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you about some things before I wake up." Claude sheepishly rubbed the back of his head while he casted his gaze towards the cloudy expanse all around them. “This place holds some interest to me, and who knows if I will ever see you or it again?”

"I would say that's not a sufficient reason to wait, but I suppose you do have a good point." Sothis rested a finger on her chin. "This blood transfer spell already has so many unforeseen consequences, it's possible that this is the first and last time we speak face-to-face."

"Exactly. I can’t waste this golden opportunity, not when there’s so much at stake." Claude beamed.

Sothis smiled along with him, although her smile was more unsettling than reassuring. It almost felt inhuman in a way. "Then I will do my best to satiate your curiosity, although keep in mind that there's still much I don't know about myself. Anyway, what do you wish to ask about?"

Claude's grin grew wider. As much as he needed to wake up and face the consequences of his actions, he also needed to follow this tantalizing trail of crumbs to its end. Now that he was on this lonely mountain, it would be foolish to not take advantage of the one who brought him here.

“Alright. Question number one: Do you recognize this mountain, and or the throne Byleth is sleeping on?”

“I…” She opened her mouth, then closed it promptly to purse her lips into a frown. “Yes. This place is significant to me, but I can’t place why. This place may used to be my home, before I wound up in Byleth’s head, or I may only call it home because I frequent it so often in my dreams… I’m afraid I cannot offer a solid explanation for the throne, however. I can only say that it is mine.”

Claude would have pumped a fist in the air if it didn’t make him look disrespectful. He knew that Sothis was connected to this place somehow. Which meant if he could make this other connection…

“Question number two: Does the name Sopdet mean anything to you?”

Sothis remained silent, giving Claude the impression that he was barking up the wrong tree. He parted his lips to change the subject, only to be interrupted by a surprised gasp and the enlarging of her emerald green eyes.

“Yes… Sopdet… I was called that once.” She tapped her finger against her cheek. “But by who? And why? Mockingbird, you best explain yourself!”

“Relax. I wouldn't try to anger the Spirit of Time’s Flow on purpose.”

Claude winked to break the tension, but the small gesture did nothing to calm her down. She straightened her body and flared her wings at the use of such a lofty title.

“What did you just call me?”

“The Spirit of Time’s Flow.” Claude repeated. “Who is known as Sopdet in Almyra. You know, it’s funny that you claim that name, because it’s actually supposedly unrelated to this mountain.”

Sothis furrowed her eyebrows as she frowned, as if Claude had stumbled upon a revelation that he wasn’t meant to make. “So why did you ask these two unrelated questions? And how did you connect the Spirit of Time’s Flow to me? Please, elaborate.”

As delicious the idea of making Sothis stew in her brimming curiosity was, Claude couldn’t hold himself back. Not when he was on the verge of something incredible, and he needed Sothis’s answers to fill in his gaps. 

A knowing smile crept up on Claude’s face as he slowly revealed the treasured cards in his hand. “I asked them because I’ve been developing this crazy theory about your past. As I just said, Sopdet is the name of the Spirit of Time’s Flow, who’s worshipped primarily in Almyra. Its symbol is the same one that’s on your clothes and Byleth’s chest, and its Galdr, or magical song, shares its tune with a song you wrote. 

"On the other hand, the dreamscape around us is known as Mount Zanado, once a holy place for the Fodlan Church of the Goddess. A long time ago, worshippers built a temple on Mount Zanado's peak, and in that temple was a throne of stone meant for the Goddess. The same throne that Byleth is resting in now.

"Anyway we have two completely different religions, linked together by you. You are proving to be quite the enigma."

He pointed an index finger at Sothis, who regarded both his gesture and his answer with wide eyes. She floated wordlessly for a long moment, presumably to ponder over what was just said, before finally breaking the silence with more bewilderment.

“Hm. That is quite a tale. I feel as if I should be more shocked, but I just find myself nodding along, like everything you said is what I already knew. I’m more curious about how you came across all these facts. I thought you weren’t a religious man.”

“Well, you can probably figure out how I know about Almyran spirits.” Claude reluctantly admitted. “But as for Mount Zanado… I did a whole lot of research, and even visited here once to look for answers. I didn’t find any trace of a temple or a throne of stone's existence, so I assumed that what I sought after was destroyed by the passage of time."

“Fascinating.” Sothis murmured as her unblinking eyes fixated on the half-harpy man before her. “Although maybe I should rephrase myself. Why have you taken an interest in holy places and beings, when you don’t believe in gods?”

“Regardless of how I feel about gods in general, religion is a powerful force in any civilization.” Claude chuckled. “And the most powerful religions often have roots in history, even though they sometimes try to hide them.”

Now it was Sothis’s turn to laugh. “Like what you were doing with your Almyran origins?”

“I suppose so, yeah.” Claude’s lightheartedness remained on his face as he shrugged. “But I never said it was the right thing to do. At the same time, someone with big secrets like me can see why people would go to great lengths to obscure a shady past. Which makes me the perfect person to find them out.”

“And you’re using Byleth and I to that end.” Sothis’s smile faded away under the dark shadow of that assumption.

Claude’s own smile gradually morphed into a frown. He had to be careful with his next words, seeing as he just revealed her status as a time spirit.

“I’ll admit, that was part of my motivation at first. But I’ve… grown past that. You two mean so much more to me now. I wouldn’t mind never finding out anything, as long as I get to see you happy.”

“You mean you get to see Byleth happy.” Sothis clarified.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Claude absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair, only to accidentally bump against his head feathers. “It’s still just very strange to see and talk to you like a real person. Before, I sometimes forget that you exist.”

“I can tell.” A faint smirk graced Sothis’s youthful features. “But I don’t mind terribly. Byleth is very dear to me too. Which is why if you ever hurt her…”

She curled her right hand into a fist and punched it into her left palm. Claude couldn’t help but be both amused and terrified by her gesture. He also found himself missing the simpler times, when spirits were just nebulous forces of nature that never outright physically threaten anyone.

“I get it. I swear I won’t harm a feather on her pretty wings.” Claude held up his hands in surrender. 

“Hmph.” Sothis furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before softening her expression. “I suppose I’ll accept your sworn oath for now, only because I have other questions I need answered. Like what sort of truth are you trying to pry out of the religions of Almyra and Fodlan?”

Claude let out a long hum. He hesitated to speak of it not because he loathed to divulge more of his secrets. At this point, he was already past such insecurities. No, he hesitated because the truth he sought was deeply tied to some very personal dreams, dreams that he wanted to share with a certain someone.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to save that answer for later, when Byleth is awake.” He eventually told Sothis.

“Oh? Now this is a surprise.” She gasped in disbelief. “Are you just saying that to get out of revealing more than you have to?”

“Nope. I’m being honest.” Claude nodded. “This is a talk that’s long overdue. You wouldn’t have me tell you first while the person that needs to hear it the most is sleeping, would you?”

Sothis harrumphed again, but ultimately relented to his demands. “Fine. But you better uphold your promise. It’s not just for my sake, or even for your sake, but for Byleth’s.”

“I know. I wouldn't break a promise with the Spirit of Time's Flow." Claude stretched his arms behind his head. “Although, the more I get to know you, the more I find myself doubting if you really are the sacred Sopdet. I definitely imagined the physical form of a spirit to be more charming and less bratty. Byleth must have the patience of a saint, to put up with you all the time.”

Claude’s cheeky wink proved to be the last straw for Sothis. She unfurled her wings to make her show of anger bigger than it actually was. “Why you-! Ugh! I’m done with this conversation! You obviously have some self-reflection to do if that’s the tone you take with the Spirit of Time’s Flow!”

On that note, Sothis floated over the back of Byleth’s throne and disappeared. Claude couldn’t find her, not even when he himself walked around the stone seat. He would have been disappointed that he couldn’t get more answers out of her if he didn’t suddenly feel so tired. His fatigue from everything must have caught up to him all at once. From the consequences of his actions, to the gravity of the situation, to his own nonchalant attitude about it all.

And maybe just seeing Byleth snoozing away so peacefully made him yearn for more rest. Claude ended up watching the rise and fall of her chest for several cycles before a yawn escaped his lips. As he could no longer resist the call of sleep, he sat down next to the throne, used the hard surface as a headrest, and closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo I planned to combine this chapter with the next, and then the next two chapters together, but the word count got out of hand (like always). Needless to say, things are going to get pretty interesting from here on out, and I figured spending more time on character development and the like is better than rushing through the plot. Also Claude's and Sothis's banter together is just so good, I couldn't stop myself.


	27. A Disintegrating Web of Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude faces the many consequences of his lies.

Claude didn’t know what to expect the next time he opened his eyes. But considering everything that had happened, he could have been greeted by much worse. The sight of sunlight streaming through curtained windows, the comforting warmth of a blanket on top of him, and a lack of any sort of pain told him all he needed to know. He was in a safe place, among friends, and most importantly, far away from the reach of Those Who Slither in the Dark.

He turned on his side and raised his head out of his pillow. The room he was in was unfamiliar, but it was at least filled with two familiar faces. Marianne sat in a chair beside his bed, her eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer, and Byleth slept in an armchair a few feet away, sprawled out similarly to how she rested in the throne of stone. Claude already knew of her new hair color thanks to his strange dream, but the bright sunlit room and the realness of the waking world somehow made her spring green hair more surreal. And was that Marianne’s dress she was wearing?

His subtle movements brought Marianne out of her prayers. She lifted her head to meet his curious gaze, then smiled as she whispered in a relieved tone.

“Claude! You’re awake! Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine.” He replied immediately, only to add on afterwards, “I think.”

Claude had to correct himself when he tried to sit up while answering. His arms wobbled under the weight of his body, threatening to give out if he hadn’t rested his back against his bed’s headboard. Once he straightened himself, his blanket slipped off his upper half, revealing his bare chest and arms covered with thick, umber feathers. He was taken back by the sight of them at first, only to remember that he also had them in his strange dream. So if whatever Byleth did had healed his arms, that meant... Claude brought his hands up to his ears to confirm his suspicions. Like before, he felt feathers poking out from his behind ears, standing tall over his hair like a pair of monuments to his heritage.

He opened his mouth to start spinning excuses, but Marianne interrupted him before he even uttered a single word. “Please, don’t worry about your feathers. They’re fine.”

“I wasn’t worried about-” He began to say, then stopped himself. Admittedly, Claude was worried about his feathers, but he wasn’t worried for their health. He fretted over how everyone else reacted to them. Although Sothis did her best to assuage his worst fears when they spoke on Mount Zanado, those fears came rushing back once he returned to reality.

Marianne casted her gaze downwards for a split second before raising it back up. “Claude… The truth is, I’ve known about you for a while.”

“You have?” Claude asked a little more anxiously than he would’ve liked. He did his best to hide all his secrets from everyone in Fodlan, and when no one mentioned any of them, he thought that he had succeeded. If anyone else had said those words besides Marianne, he would have instantly denied them and lied out of his ass to salvage the precarious situation.

But since this was Marianne, he allowed her to continue unabated. She broke eye contact again, in order to recollect herself, then looked back at Claude once she was ready.

“Well, I didn’t know about your feathers. But whenever I healed you with magic, I’ve always felt that something was… off. I couldn’t place what that feeling was though. And since you’ve been so welcoming towards me, even with my Crest, I decided to keep matters to myself.”

Claude curled his fingers around fistfuls of blanket. He had an inkling that white magic allowed its caster to detect anything inhumane about their target, but he couldn’t confirm such a theory until now. Again, if he heard this from anyone besides Marianne, Claude wouldn’t have let this slide. Instead, he couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty.

“Marianne, I want you to know that I didn’t sort out the issue of your Crest in order to pressure you into silence. I just wanted you to be happy with yourself.”

There was so much more that he wanted to say, but his tongue froze as soon as a kernel of his own truth was revealed. Claude let out a quiet sigh as his fingers moved from the blanket to the feathers on his arms. Thankfully, it looked like Marianne understood his unspoken words, judging from her slight nod and somber expression.

“I never felt pressured or anything. It’s like what you said to me. We both have burdens we were born with, and we can’t let them hinder us. You helped me realize that, so keeping an important secret for you was the least I could do.

“On that note…” Her rich brown eyes shifted to his equally rich brown feathers. “Please don’t do anything rash to your feathers. Byleth may have healed you, but it will still take a while for your body to completely recover. Subjecting yourself to… whatever you do…. might undo all the progress you’ve made.”

Claude’s hands fell away from his arms. “I understand. I wasn’t going to do anything to them anyway.”

Not yet, at least. Even though his secret was apparently already out in the open, he still felt antsy about displaying such frequent reminders. And he was sure the others were just as agitated as him. Speaking of which…

“How is everyone dealing with… everything?"

Marianne paused before answering again. "... Once we knew that you weren't at death's door, everyone had… different ways of coping with your feathers. As you can imagine, Lorenz and Hilda are pretty upset. But regardless, everyone is anticipating answers from you once you awakened. Especially Byleth. She hasn't left this room ever since we brought you here… "

She turned her eyes towards the harpy snoozing away in the cushy armchair. Another pang of guilt shot through Claude's heart. It was almost enough to make him spill the beans about everything, but he held himself back for now.

"Marianne, where is here? How long have I been out?"

"We're in a summer villa of House Ordelia. There's only a skeleton staff here, and none of them were told what really happened to you. Only that you got hurt and needed to recover before heading back home. But you've only been resting for a few days since we found you."

A few days. Long enough for his secrets to permeate, short enough for his secrets to remain a novelty. Claude sat wordlessly in his bed, ruminating over how he was going to deliver the answers that everyone sought from him. In some far off corner of his mind, he housed several half-baked ideas, most of them involving a nebulous time when he had no need for secrets. But he never really anticipated dealing with this matter so soon, nor did he expect becoming involved with someone like Byleth…

"If you were hoping to speak to everyone, I’m afraid that some of the others headed back to the dungeons where you were held in order to investigate them more.” Marianne continued on. “Those Who Slither in the Dark destroyed most of their information before we even arrived, but there’s still things to sort through. Not to mention the underground complex itself has some interesting architecture.”

“Hm, I don’t mind waiting for their return.” Claude shrugged. It gave him more time to assemble his words. “How long will they be gone for? And what sort of things did you find down there?”

“They’ll be back soon, I think. And as for what we found…”

Marianne lowered her gaze once more. This time, she refused to meet Claude’s eyes not because she needed to gather her thoughts, but because she couldn’t look at him specifically. He had a feeling that whatever they discovered in those dark tunnels didn’t bode well for him.

Luckily, he didn’t have to hear what Marianne had to say just yet. A soft mumble from the third person in the room drew their attention. With a roll of her head and a flutter of her eyelids, Byleth slowly roused herself from her slumber. Once she opened her eyes, Claude saw for the first time that they had taken on a brilliant blue color similar to a bright summer sky. It was so unlike the dark blue reminiscent of stormy seas, yet Claude found himself lost in them anyway.

Those eyes fixated on Claude in the same way his eyes were fixated on her. They shone with joy and relief for a split second before Byleth pounced on him and enveloped him in a tight hug. All air was forced out of Claude’s lungs and his body twinged in pain from the sudden embrace, but he couldn’t help but smile and hug her back.

“Ack! Hey, Byleth! I take it that you missed me?”

She didn’t answer back right away. Byleth just clung to Claude in silence, as if he would disappear if she released him. Claude was actually perfectly fine with this moment of intimacy, with how he could feel her feathers poking through her robes, her wing talons digging into his back, and her heartbeat thudding like crazy. He even allowed himself to gently stroke through her green(!) hair, as a wordless way of reassuring her that he was alive and well. It was only after Marianne cleared her throat and stood up that they disentangled themselves from each other.

“It, uh, looks like you two have some catching up to do. So I’ll leave you alone for now.” Marianne muttered, as if she was apologetic about interrupting the tender moment. “But I’ll still be close by, in case you need something.”

And with that, she was out the door. Although they weren’t hugging each other anymore, Byleth was still very close to him, almost sitting on his lap. Claude thought he could keep himself composed at least long enough to get through this much needed conversation, but he found his heart beating at an uncontrollable rate and a blush rising to his cheeks. In light of everything that had happened, he should have expected the floodgates of his feelings to open. That didn’t mean he wanted to become this flustered, however.

He took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking. “Byleth?”

“Hm?” She glanced up.

“... I don’t even know where to begin, honestly.” Claude let out a weary sigh. “I suppose I should start with a thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for saving me yet again. Seriously, how did you do it?”

“It was difficult.” Byleth admitted. “I wouldn’t have done it without your friends.”

“And me! Don’t forget it was me who guided you through the spell!” 

A high pitched voice startled Claude enough to make him jump in place. He frantically searched the room for the source before laying his eyes on a green-haired girl sitting at the bed’s end. Huh. So she was sticking around even after Claude’s dream had ended. He honestly didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not. Byleth followed his stare towards Sothis, then glanced back at him when she realized what all this looking around meant.

“Wait, can you see and hear Sothis now?” She asked in a puzzled tone.

“I can.” Claude replied back just as incredulously. “I don’t know why, but if I had to hazard a guess, it has to do with the blood you shared with me.”

“How do you know about that?” Byleth tilted her head. “You weren’t awake during the spell.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve spoken to Claude.” Sothis chimed in. “Last night, we had a long and insightful conversation on top of that mountain dreamscape, while you slept the entire discussion away! You should have been awake, hatchling! It would have saved us the trouble of explaining everything again!”

A pause. Byleth gave Sothis a mournful look before Sothis continued her rambling. “There’s no need to apologize! If anything, Claude should be the one apologizing, for everything he’s done!”

Another pause, this time punctuated by a frustrated stare from Sothis. Claude got the feeling that he was missing something, like he could only hear one side of the talk between Byleth and Sothis. He ended up being proven right when Sothis kept chittering away without any regards to the third wheel in the conversation.

“Well, you should ask him that yourself!”

“Hold on.” Claude felt the need to butt in. “Sothis, can you read Byleth’s mind or something? Because I’m not hearing whatever she’s saying to you.”

“Oh?” Sothis blinked, as if this was news to her. “I suppose I can. It makes sense, really, since in the past, you’ve never remarked about Byleth talking to herself. Mind you, I don’t pick up every thought from her. Only what she wants me to hear, and then some.”

“Uh, you can’t hear my thoughts, can you?” Claude asked with widening eyes. 

“I don’t think I can. I haven’t heard anything from you.” Sothis shook her head. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible though.”

In all honesty, Claude didn’t want her eavesdropping on his mind, the last sanctuary for his secrets. Just because he was going to admit to everything didn’t mean he wanted someone like Sothis to just pluck them out like books in an open library. To make sure that his mind was leakproof, he started thinking about how Sothis was completely and utterly childish, the direct opposite of how the Spirit of Time’s Flow should act, all while watching the ghostly girl intently. He figured those sorts of thoughts should rile her up, regardless of whether she was trying to hide any potential connection. 

Luckily for him, she didn’t say a thing or give him a single disgruntled look. Sothis instead kept up her one-sided conversation with Byleth. “Oh, hatchling! Sometimes your mind is so loud, I can’t help but overhear! Maybe you can take this as a lesson of reigning in your stray thoughts, instead of blaming me!”

“Yeah. Uh, Byleth, if this is going to work, then you should say what you’re telling Sothis out loud.” Claude sighed. “I mean, I can sometimes figure out what you’re saying, but other times, I just feel dumb.”

“Sorry.” Byleth uttered. “Is this better?”

“Much better. Thanks.”

“Well, enough of technicalities! Byleth has a lot to ask of you, and it won’t do to keep getting distracted!” Sothis leaned forward and propped her head on her hands, in the picture-perfect imitation of a curious child.

“Right.” Byleth turned back to Claude. Cyan eyes glanced over him, as if trying to figure out what to ask first, and she must truly have many questions with how long she studied him. The awkward inspection only ended when her gaze lingered conspicuously on the feathers that sprouted from behind his ears.

“Why do you have feathers?”

Claude inhaled. He should have known that was the first thing on her mind, and he couldn’t blame her. The problem he faced now was how he was going to reply without making himself look worse? Sothis already knew the truth, so if he lied, he would get called out immediately. And yet, the real reason for his feathers weren’t all that much better, thanks to his earlier lies. He felt his head feathers shrinking from Byleth’s steadfast stare as he settled upon the best answer he could come up with.

“Well… My father is a harpy, and my mother is a human.”

Silence. The wait for Byleth’s response was unbearable, even though Claude could see it brewing behind her eyes. She was conflicted, that was for sure, but who knew whether her sympathy or her common sense would win out in the end?

“You told me that you’ve never seen a harpy before, except for me.” She whispered after the lengthy pause.

“I did.” Claude said through clenched teeth. “But you have to understand that I couldn’t just go around saying what I really am. If people found out, I would be dead. Plain and simple.”

“But I’m not just a person. I’m a harpy. You could have told me.”

The subtle pain in Byleth’s voice struck Claude’s heart like a dagger. She was completely right. He had no real reason to hide his feathers or his heritage from Byleth. He had succumbed to his paranoia, deluded himself into thinking she would reject him like everyone else, when the signs of her compassion were plain to see. And now he was going to get rejected anyway, because of the lies he told to protect himself.

“I’m sorry, Byleth.” Claude averted his eyes so he didn’t have to look at her hurt expression. “But even full-blooded harpies can hate half-harpies, and I didn’t know who you really were. So in the beginning, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you something so important.”

He glanced back up, only for Byleth to look away. He continued on anyway. “I was going to tell you about myself eventually. Not like this, obviously. But I really planned on it.”

The room fell quiet once more as Byleth soaked in his words. Behind her, Sothis watched with rapt attention, offering neither pity nor scorn for Claude. 

“You were going to let me fly away without saying anything.” Byleth eventually said, her voice barely raising above a murmur.

“I…” Claude began, only to stop himself from digging himself into a deeper hole. How could he tell her that he still kept the barriers up around his heart even then? That he still didn’t completely trust her until she returned from the skies in her usual and endearingly blithe fashion?

“And your bloodline wasn’t the only thing you lied about.” Byleth continued on, each troubled word like a hammer strike driving a nail into his heart. “Because you’re also from Almyra, aren’t you? Or at least, your father is. That’s why you know so much about Almyra, and about harpies in general.”

Claude sighed and scratched at some feathers on his arms. “You’re… you’re right. But please, don’t say that so readily. Everything else I’ve told you about Almyra and Fodlan remains true. If people didn’t want to kill me for my harpy lineage, they’ll definitely want to kill me for being the one of the enemy.”

“It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?” Sothis piped up unhelpfully. “If someone like Byleth can figure out the truth, the other Golden Deer surely can.”

“That may be so, but…” 

Claude sighed again and brought his knees up so he could rest his head on them. No matter what he confessed to Byleth, no matter how he phrased his confessions, he couldn’t make this situation any better. He still felt like he was losing her with every utterance. Worse, he continued to make excuses for himself instead of trying to soothe Byleth’s hurt feelings. Apparently, it wounded him too much to say what he needed to say.

The hushed moment drew out another question from Byleth. “So, if you’re from Almyra, why did you capture the Almyran harpy? Which is another lie you told, by the way.”

Claude was glad that Sothis warned him this earlier, otherwise the change of topic would have taken him off guard. “I’m sorry for lying. Again. But I was actually saving her, if you can believe it.”

“Only to have her die in an ambush from Those Who Slither in the Dark.”

That statement, almost like an accusation, stole all possible explanations from Claude. He wanted to tell her that she got the story all wrong, that Lamassu and the other Almyran prisoners survived the attack thanks to his schemes. But if he admitted that he played a part in their escape, he would be opening a whole other can of worms. His nighttime venture showcased the drastic measures he would undertake in order to protect his secrets. There was no way to spin all the lies he told, lies that accumulated into an attack on his friends, in a positive light. Not without more lies. And if he decided to go down that route again... Well, he only needed to take a good hard look at the current situation to know why that was a bad idea.

His uncharacteristic silence caused Byleth to sigh. “Claude… Why did you take me in while I had a broken wing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Claude blurted out. “I took you in because I didn’t want you to die. You wouldn’t have survived out there in the wilderness if you couldn’t fly.”

“That may be true, but are you sure you didn’t have another reason for saving me?”

Claude’s heart skipped a beat. In his eagerness to prove himself trustworthy, he asked, “Why would you think that?”

This time, it wasn’t Byleth who responded back, but Sothis. She let out a sound of derision as she rolled her eyes. “Why  _ wouldn’t _ Byleth think that, when you’ve lied to her about so many matters? Even I am starting to agree with that line of thought, after everything you told me during our shared dream last night.”

“What did Claude tell you?” Byleth asked with a tilted head.

“He told me a great many things, hatchling.” Sothis began, much to Claude’s chagrin. “He knows the name of the mountain we often visited in our dreams, and he called me by a name I once owned: Sopdet, the Almyran Spirit of Time’s Flow… He claimed he knew all this for a purpose he would reveal once you were awake.”

While Sothis gained a wistful sort of quality in her eyes, Byleth’s own stare hardened as she redirected her attention back to Claude. She didn’t say anything, but she still pleaded for answers from him with a distraught look that made his heart sink.

Claude had no choice but to cave in to her unspoken demands. “I- It’s true. I swear I didn’t take you in for this purpose initially, but the more I got to know the two of you, the more pertinent it became.”

“What purpose is it?” Byleth asked in a steely tone.

“It’s, ah-” 

He hated how twisted his tongue became during an important time like this. It didn’t help that Claude imagined this conversation going very differently. There was so much more he needed to explain first, preferably not right after he woke up from a coma of several days. To have his plans go awry and to be put on the spot like this… Claude couldn’t bring himself to keep his promise to Sothis. He could only stew in incriminating silence that did himself no favors.

Byleth inched away from him, a gesture that amplified Claude’s guilt. “This so-called purpose will only hurt me further, won’t it?”

“No! It’s nothing like that at all.” Claude hurriedly shook his head. “It’s just… You know why I’m a man of many secrets. I’m basically in a life-or-death situation all the time. One slip-up, one confession to the wrong person would spell my end. So forgive me if I find it difficult to break a habit of six years.”

“Am I a wrong person?” Byleth narrowed her eyes. “I understand why you couldn’t trust me when we first met, but you still insist on withholding the truth even now.”

“I’m sorry.” He sighed dejectedly. “I wish I could tell you everything right now, but I just woke up after a near-death experience. Would it be too much to ask some more time to collect my thoughts? That way, when I’m ready, I can actually explain myself in a way you’ll understand.”

In the background, Sothis scoffed. Claude fully expected Byleth to also sound annoyed at his excuses, but to his surprise, her harsh glare softened back to its neutral state.

“I can wait.” She muttered. Her voice was like a soothing balm to his aching heart. “I may have been asking too much of you, too soon. Now that you’re safe, we have all the time we need, so I will hear you out whenever you’re ready.”

Claude responded with a quiet but heartfelt ‘thank you’, only to get drowned out by an obnoxious groan from Sothis. “Ughhh! He’s just making excuses for himself! How can you still believe everything he says after he admitted to being a chronic liar?”

“I still have faith in him.” Byleth stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “And patience.”

“That patience isn’t going to get us anywhere because we actually have less time than you think!” Sothis kicked herself off the bed so she could float next to Byleth while she pouted. The sight of a girl hovering mid-air without using her wings fascinated Claude so much, he temporarily forgot about the conversation he was holding.

“What do you mean?” Byleth’s voice snapped him out of his trance.

“I mean,” Sothis nodded towards the door, “It sounds like the rest of Claude’s friends are back.”

Moments after she said that, a parade of footsteps stomped in the hallway outside. Eager voices overlapped with each other enough so Claude couldn’t distinguish them, but he could definitely make out Hilda’s shrill shouts and Marianne’s stuttering protests. That was the only warning he got before the door slammed open, a very pink projectile hurtled through the air, and wrapped Claude in a bone-crushing hug.

“Claude! You’re alive!” Hilda shrieked into his ears.

“Gah… too tight…” He managed to sputter through his crushed lungs. 

“Oops, sorry!” Hilda thankfully got the message and backed off, allowing Claude to breath again. He glanced behind her and saw that she wasn’t the only one to welcome Claude back to the world of the living. All the Golden Deer had gathered his bed, wearing smiles that brightened the room more than sunlight ever could.

“Hilda, you do know he was alive all this time, right? Just unconscious?” Leonie raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah. Just let me have this! I don’t get many chances to hug our Leader Man without completely embarrassing him!” She gave Leonie a dirty look before turning back to Claude. “Anyway, we’re all glad that you’re ok! Even after what Byleth did to you!”

“What she did to me? She saved my life.” 

“Yeah, but she also gave you…”

Hilda pointed at her ears in order to convey what she didn’t exactly want to say out loud. Claude squinted at her in confusion, taking a little longer than he would’ve liked to solve her riddle. She, and maybe the others, thought that Byleth’s spell made Claude sprout feathers. They couldn’t be further from the truth, but at the same time, Claude could see why they thought that. They believed that harpy blood was highly acidic, after all.

Still, he couldn’t help but let out a short laugh. A look of alarm crossed Lorenz’s face. “Are you feeling well, Claude? This side effect isn’t a laughing matter.”

“It isn’t a side effect.” He admitted before he could have any regrets. As much as Claude would’ve liked to keep that cover story, doing so would only hurt Byleth. Now was the time to come clean about (mostly) everything.

An awkward lull sapped much of the cheeriness out of the room. Claude watched his friends’ smiles fade away to varying degrees of bewilderment, confusion, and unfortunately, disgust. The twin feathered crests on his head lowered further until they almost blended in with his dark hair.

“Claude… do you mean…” Ignatz started, but couldn’t finish his thought.

“Yeah. These feathers are all mine. Byleth had nothing to do with them.” Claude proclaimed in a wavering voice. He never would have guessed that admitting this long and hard-kept secret to the Golden Deer, people he had known for six years, would be harder than admitting to a harpy he only met a little more than a month ago. But regardless of who he was talking to, he struggled to keep himself composed.

“Although… They probably only grew back so well because of her healing magic.” He added on.

“Wait. Go back to the first part.” Hilda waved a hand in the air. “These feathers are yours? The ones that are growing all over your arms and behind your ears?”

“Yes. They are.” Claude repeated himself in an unamused manner. 

“Eeugh!” Hilda wiped her hands all over her skirt. “I hope they aren’t contagious!”

“Why in the world would they be?” Claude furrowed his brows in disbelief. Only Hilda would be bold and oblivious enough to make such a crass remark. “Anyway, you better get used to them. I can’t get rid of them like I usually do. Doctor’s orders.”

“How could this have happened, though?” Lysithea’s face paled with each astonished word. “Are you some sort of… mutant harpy?”

“Half-harpy, actually. But to be fair, there’s not much of a difference. I don’t know of anyone else that looks quite like me.”

“Being half-harpy isn’t much better than being a mutant harpy!” Lorenz’s face, in stark contrast to Lysithea, grew redder the more he scowled. “So the esteemed Tiana von Riegan eloped with not a man, but a monster?! That is, assuming your mother is really the sole daughter of House Riegan!”

“Yeah. I’m still a Riegan.” Claude sat up a little straighter. “Come on, you’ve watched me use Failnaught thousands of times. There’s no way anyone can fake that.”

“I dunno. You somehow hid your feathers from us all this time. I bet you’re smart enough to fake a lot of other things.” Raphael chuckled, as if this was just one giant prank instead of a life-changing moment.

“But wait a sec. The only harpies left are in Almyra.” Hilda mused out loud, confirming what Sothis thought would happen. “So if your mom ran off with one of them… That makes you half-Almyran as well?!”

“Shh! Not so loud!” Claude tried to shush the increasingly hysterical Hilda. It was bad enough that he had to confess some secrets to the Golden Deer. He didn’t want the villa’s staff to overhear them too.

“Don’t shush me, Claude!” Hilda snapped back, her pretty features suddenly contorted by scorn. “That means I’m right, right? When were you going to tell us any of this?!”

“Well, I can definitely say this wasn’t how I wanted to break the news. Especially to someone that thought that my feathers were contagious.”

“Hey! That’s not-!”

Hilda stopped herself mid-sentence. Her annoyed look shifted to something akin to regret as she simply ended her thought by stomping a foot on the ground and turning away. To make matters worse, the other Golden Deer didn’t come to his defense. They looked just as wounded as Hilda, even though they weren’t quite as dramatic about it.

“Say, Claude?” Leonie eventually piped up. “Is this why you never wanted to take any mission that involved Almyrans?”

“It could be, yeah.” Claude replied a bit more quietly.

“And the one time you did accept such a mission, it was because you sought my assistance for information on that bandit leader.” Lorenz narrowed his eyes. “But now with your heritage in mind, I begin to wonder what your true intentions were during that battle.”

“Are you guys really going to start doubting me, after everything I did for the Alliance?” He forced himself to stay calm, even though he resented how quickly his friends were turning on him. “Because it would be really impressive if you could twist all those times we saved merchants from bandits or villages from famines as acts of treachery.”

“We’re not talking about that.” Lysithea scowled. “We’re talking about what we found in the Slitherers’ base.”

“Wait, what did you guys find down there?” Claude tentatively asked. He was afraid of the answer he would receive, but he couldn’t ignore this no matter how hard he tried.

Lysithea and Ignatz exchanged furtive glances with each, then with the rest of the Golden Deer. The white-haired mage pulled a paper out of her bag and showed it to Claude.

“We found this letter from a servant working in the Golden Deer estate, addressed to a member of Those Who Slither in the Dark. They talked about the Almyran prisoner convoy that was burned down by an unknown entity who claimed to be a part of Those Who Slither in the Dark. But from how this message was worded, it sounded like the Slitherers had no prior knowledge of the attack, nor did they instigate it.”

“Why are you taking a letter from Those Who Slither in the Dark at face value?” Claude replied a tad too bitterly. Although he knew this conversation was going to take a turn he didn’t like, he was more startled by the fact that there was apparently a spy in his estate. When, or maybe if, he got through this interrogation in one piece, he was going to have to investigate this fatal security flaw further.

“Because it matches what we’ve noticed earlier.” Ignatz murmured in a shaky voice. “Before Byleth killed her, Kronya said that you were using their name for something, and that’s why they decided to capture you. Of course, none of us wanted to believe her, but things are starting to add up. The mage I fought during the ambush, the one that grievously injured me, said that he didn’t want to hurt me. Back then, I had no idea what he meant, but if he was actually you in disguise…”

Claude, unable to look Ignatz directly, pressed his head into his knees and squeezed his eyes shut. He wished he could close his ears off to the rest of the world as well, but another part of him thought that he deserved the scorn and misery to come. And to make matters worse, he could feel Byleth, who he wanted to keep away from this mess as much as possible, freezing up next to him.

“Claude.” Ignatz said, sounding no more confident than before. “I- no, we need to know the truth. Were you the one behind the caravan attack?”

He breathed in, then looked up. It was time to face the consequences of his lies. “Yes.”

A deafening wave of silence fell over everyone. As he predicted, Lysithea was the first to speak. She was surprisingly quiet for how much fury and disappointment burned in her eyes, yet the venom in her voice rattled him to his core.

“How could you?” She hissed. “You promised me that you would help me find a cure for my condition, yet now you went behind my back and pretended to be those monsters that did this to me?!

“I wasn’t doing this for fun!” Claude retorted back with unexpected harshness. “Look, the harpies that we fought were old friends of mine! I was planning on neutralizing them and then letting them go on the battlefield, but then I was forced to capture one of them! Because of that, I had to make new plans that I’m not exactly proud of! I’m sorry that things went too far!”

“And you wonder why we started doubting your allegiance.” Lorenz muttered. “To think that you were aiding the Almyrans this entire time… How despicable.”

“Lorenz, it isn’t like what you think it is. I haven’t done anything for Almyra since I left there.” Claude couldn’t hold back the edge in his voice. “But at the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to kill childhood friends. I’m not that ruthless.”

“So, the Almyrans in the caravan actually survived?” Raphael, bless him and his big heart, was one of the few Golden Deer that didn’t immediately turn hostile. He sounded more confused than anything.

“Of course they did.” Claude nodded. “These guys were harmless. Well, mostly harmless. They were only after me, and once they got what they wanted, they peacefully flew back to Almyra. No fuss, no muss.”

“If it were that easy, then why didn’t you ask for us for help?” Ignatz said, equal parts upset and concerned. “Then you wouldn’t have to resort to violence in the first place.”

“Do you really think that would work out? Let’s be realistic here. If I approached everyone and said ‘Hey, those raiders that we captured? They’re actually my friends, so I need to set them free!’, would you guys really have listened? Instead of oh, I don’t know, arrested me on the spot for being a traitorous Almyran?”

Claude’s rebuttal quelled all further arguments from Ignatz, although he wished that it didn’t. He would have preferred it if Ignatz had an angry outburst like Lysithea, and didn’t just quietly sulk in a way that gave Claude more regrets. 

Speaking of Lysithea, she jumped back into the conversation with more biting words. “That didn’t mean you had to sabotage your own friends! Not only that, your stupid scheme attracted the attention of Those Who Slither in the Dark and endangered everyone! And you, most of all! You would have died if it weren’t for us and Byleth!”

“I’m aware. And I’m eternally grateful that you all came to my aid.” Claude stated in a steady voice. “Besides, the assault on their base worked out pretty well, disregarding the fact that I almost died. You guys killed Kronya, didn’t you?”

“That’s not the point!” Lysithea practically shouted. “Were you even intending to keep the promise you made to me?! It’s- ugh! You’re incorrigible, Claude! I can’t deal with you anymore!”

“Lysithea, wait-”

She didn’t wait. She instead whirled around and stomped out of the room. The worst part of her rants was that Claude knew exactly what Lysithea’s point was. She felt betrayed, not because of his heritage or his dubious motivation, but because he would stoop so low by pretending to be part of a group that ruined her family and stole her future. No, actually, knowing exactly what she meant wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he couldn’t do or say anything to appease her. She was right, and all he could do was watch her leave.

He turned his gaze to the remaining Golden Deer. They all shifted uncomfortably where they stood, none of them daring to break the imposing tension except for Lorenz.

“Well, Claude, I hope you are happy with your choice to prioritize your Almyran friends over us. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to attend to Lysithea, because  _ some _ of us are incapable of doing so.”

And then he was gone too. Claude was almost afraid to wonder who would be the next Golden Deer to abandon them. But even though he didn’t think about it, he still got his answer anyway.

“Claude.” Ignatz spoke up.

“Ignatz.” Claude responded, his voice barely above a whisper. “I meant what I said back then. I never wanted to hurt you. I only lashed out because I wouldn’t have made it out of there without using my Crest.”

“I understand.” He gave the faintest of nods. Somehow, that didn’t reassure Claude at all. “And I’m truly sorry for attacking you in the first place. If I had known…”

Ignatz glanced away, only to turn back with a forlorn gaze. “But even so, you promised me that we would bring those responsible for the attack to justice. That wasn’t a promise you could keep, though, wasn’t it? You couldn’t very well capture yourself.”

“I… actually promised that we would bring Those Who Slither in the Dark to justice. Not myself.” Claude hated mentioning the loophole he purposefully made, but he needed to justify himself. “But there’s hardly a difference. If the Slitherers had the chance, they would’ve tried to kill the Almyrans too.”

“I agree with you. Still, I can’t help but feel like… we were all just your puppets, easily manipulated by words and empty promises.”

Ignatz sighed and closed his eyes for a brief second. “I’m sorry. I don’t hate you. I just… need time to process everything.”

“That’s alright, Ignatz. Go on, take all the time you need.”

The poor man at least parted on more amiable terms, bowing his head before leaving through the door. Raphael, being Ignatz’s friend, shifted his uneasy gaze between the door and Claude.

He knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth. "Hey, uh, Claude?" Raphael piped up in a startlingly subdued tone. "I don't want to look like I'm ditching ya, but Ignatz…"

"I get it." Claude nodded. "You can go talk to him."

Raphael mouthed a quiet 'sorry' before departing. Now out of the Golden Deer, only Hilda, Marianne, and Leonie remained, and Claude had a feeling they weren’t going to stay put for long.

“You know, you have a lot of nerve doing what you did.” Leonie commented, her lips curved into a small frown. “I get it. I really do. But someday, your schemes are going to snowball into something you can’t control. Something bad is going to happen, someone’s going to get seriously hurt, and I can’t, in good conscience, be a part of that.”

Leonie walked out of the room without another word, and without giving Claude the chance to refute her. Not like he could. Claude buried his face into his knees again, in an attempt to put himself back into a blissful coma where he didn’t have to deal with any of this.

A beat passed. Claude didn’t bother to look up when Hilda spoke. 

“My brother once told me you can never trust Almyrans. It wasn’t just because they worshipped freaky bird people, but because they didn’t believe in things like honor or mercy.”

“Don’t even start, Hilda.” He growled.

“Hey, I’m just telling you what Holst said!” Hilda exclaimed indignantly. “I thought that wasn’t true for you, even though you’re Almyran, but you still managed to prove me wrong. What you did was royally fucked up, and then you fucked up even more by letting everyone walk out of here hating you.”

Claude gathered enough strength to pull himself out of his misery and glare at Hilda. He was sorely tempted to get snippy and ask what point she was trying to make, but she quickly moved onto that point without further prompting.

“I would say that I’m going to try to help smooth things over with the others, but seriously?! You're Almyran, and a harpy?! And you managed to hide that from us ever since we've known you?! How am I supposed to calm everyone down when I can't keep calm myself?!"

"You don't have to." Claude grumbled. "I can’t imagine you doing any favors for a gross Almyran."

"Wow, really Claude?!" Hilda stamped a foot on the floor while her arms straightened out by her side. "You're seriously just going to throw that back at me?! I thought that our six years together would mean something!"

“I guess you thought wrong.” Claude shrugged, his tone growing colder by the moment. “And I thought wrong, too, when my ‘friends’ started doubting me the moment I grew feathers.”

"Is that what you think this is about?" Hilda became louder, as if to compensate for his lack of bite. “I mean, yeah, I’m really weirded out by the fact that you’re suddenly half-harpy, but as for the others? That stunt you pulled was way more devastating! We trusted you, only for you to turn around and stab us when it’s convenient! And then have the gall to blame it on someone else! Sure, those guys deserved a beating, but come on!”

This time, Claude had nothing to say to her, because she was 100% correct. It didn’t matter that he did what he had to in order to save his Almyran friends. What mattered was how he didn’t really regret using the Golden Deer and Byleth like tools until people got hurt. And yet, Claude didn’t care to admit that out loud. Hilda’s scathing remarks about both his deeds and his heritage made him petty enough to withhold any prospective olive branches.

Upon receiving a non-response, Hilda swiveled her head around, refusing to meet his eyes. "I was going to give you a chance to explain yourself, but fine! Be that way! Come on, Marianne! Let's get some fresh air while 'Leader Man' wallows in his self-pity!" 

Hilda stuck out a hand towards Marianne, gesturing to come with her. To Claude's surprise, she didn't take the invite. Hilda shot her a startled look, then shrugged as she stormed out the door by herself. Once she was gone, Claude stared at Marianne, perhaps too intensely, and the blue-haired woman shriveled under his hawk-like gaze.

“I-I’m sorry, Claude. I wish I could have stopped her from saying all those things…”

“I’m fine. Really.” He lied. “Hilda’s right, in a way. I really was awful to you guys.”

“I wouldn’t go that far…” Marianne’s voice trailed off as she struggled to think of how to comfort him. The truth of his involvement with the prisoner convoy must have given even someone as sweet as Marianne a reason to hesitate. Although the two of them had bonded in the past over their shared outsider status, the commonalities between them ended there. Marianne never used the mistrust geared towards her to hurt others, not like Claude. It was no wonder that she had a difficult time empathizing with him.

Claude, unable to withstand her woeful expression any longer, twitched some fingers to wave her off. “You know, she probably needs you more than I do."

“... If some time alone is all you wanted, all you needed to do was ask.” Marianne took one last, sad look at Claude in all his feathery glory. Then she bowed her head and scuttled away without daring to glance back.

Claude surveyed the empty room with an equally empty sort of feeling in his heart. He could have probably done without driving the reluctant Golden Deer members away, but at the same time, he couldn’t stand the thought of being around people that now distrusted him, both visibly and secretly.

And that included Byleth. After he was done taking in the newfound and unsettling stillness of his surroundings, Claude glanced towards the harpy beside him. She hadn’t moved or said a single word since the Golden Deer barged in on their conversation. Which was to be expected, since Claude assumed that her amnesia didn’t make her very social towards humans. What he didn’t expect was how Sothis was nowhere in sight. Did she not enjoy arguments, despite being someone that delighted in other gossip? Her absence wasn’t entirely unwelcome, however. Without her, he could proceed more smoothly without her ongoing, invasive commentary.

“Byleth…” He mumbled, in hopes of sparking the courage he needed for this overdue explanation. Unfortunately, he remained his tongue-twisted, scared self.

“I’m… assuming that you still need time to think things over.” Byleth said in a monotone voice that didn’t betray much emotion. Her usual stoicism stung more than it normally did. He wouldn’t have even minded if she sounded afraid, or upset, or angry, or all three. It would at least give him more hints on how to approach this delicate situation.

“Yeah. I do.” Claude sighed. “I’m sorry that you had to watch all that.”

Byleth didn’t reply back immediately, opting to continue staring at him with those blank eyes. Then, when she spoke, she finally forgone her cool, impassive tone. Unfortunately, she had replaced it with something akin to sorrow.

“Claude… I was hurt when I found out you lied to me, but I was willing to give you another chance. I told myself that whatever reason you had would be good enough for me, as long as it was the truth. But then I had to watch more of your lies fall apart… and…”

A hitch in her throat prevented her from finishing her sentence. Claude couldn’t blame her. He didn’t mean to stomp all over the precious second chance he was given. But with how abruptly his dark truths came out, and how poorly he reacted to them, he might as well have. 

Byleth kept her desolate gaze on him. She was more than just sad. Those bright blue eyes, once full of joy, now only begged for answers, something to dispel her doubts. He wanted so badly to say something, anything, to reassure her, but nothing came out of his throat. He still had nothing for her. Or, to be more accurate, he still had nothing from his heart for her. He could spin lies and half-truths to placate her, like he normally did, but that wasn’t what either of them needed right now.

Byleth interpreted his silence for what it was. She broke eye contact to push herself off of his bed.

“I’m sorry, Claude. I’ll still wait for an answer from you, but I don’t think I can stay here any longer.”

“Byleth, please...” 

His half-formed plea, spoken out of grief, came out more desperately than he would’ve like. And yet, Byleth didn’t take back her proclamation. She just kept staring at the door.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be around, if only because I have nowhere else to go.”

“What do you mean?”

Her cyan eyes flitted down to the ground. From this angle, it looked like they were tearing up. Such a sight made Claude’s heart drop like a rock, especially with what she had to say next.

“My human friend is dead. Kronya killed him.”

That revelation, imbued with more grief than he had ever seen out of her, rendered Claude silent. His infamous tongue failed to come up with anything that could console her. How could he have been so worried about himself when Byleth was suffering all this time? And then he continued acting like a secretive idiot, like someone she couldn’t trust, and drove home the point that she had no one to rely on anymore.

“Byleth, I’m so sorry.” He eventually said. His words were ladened with as much remorse as he could muster. “I really was hoping to find him as much as you.”

“You had no way of knowing. And I had time to mourn already.” 

Her wings at her side drooped as she took another step towards the door. “When you want to talk to me, you know where to find me. But until then…”

It sounded as if she wanted to finish her thought with a definitive farewell, but she couldn’t bring herself to utter those damning words. Maybe, like Claude, she was reluctant to say good-bye, even for something as temporary at this. At least, he hoped it was temporary. Claude, of course, wanted to gather the strength and conviction needed to bring her back, but if he couldn’t do so under fire from his friends of six years, how could he do so after being so thoroughly abandoned?

That was why he just let Byleth go, like he did with everyone else. It was strange how he didn’t start feeling lonely until she was gone. Claude stared after her, almost wishing that she would change her mind and come back. When she didn’t, he laid back down on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, wondering if he would ever be able to make things right again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard to write because I wanted to make all sides sympathetic and believable. Claude has done a lot of dubious things and it wouldn't be right to handwave them away. At the same time, not everyone's reaction is perfect, especially concerning Hilda and her racism. I didn't even want Byleth to forgive Claude entirely. After placing a lot of trust in him, that trust was thrown back in her face. That's not something you can easily recover from. And then it just makes matters worse when Claude still has trouble admitting the truth.
> 
> Anyway, if you feel like I didn't do some (or all) people justice, the upcoming chapters will still deal with the fallout. Claude might have hit rock bottom now, but at least the only way he can go is up. And he actually has quite a bit to tell Byleth. He wasn't stalling for kicks and giggles...


	28. A Long Way Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude begins the long process of making amends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I'm not dead! This chapter just took a lot of editing and RL got in the way for both me and my beta reader. But after six weeks, I think it's ready to post. Sorry it took so long!
> 
> I also want to say thank you for everyone's comments on the last chapter. They gave me a lot to think about, and hopefully this chapter is better for it. There are more things to be said at the end, but for now, I hope you guys enjoy~

Needless to say, Claude was miserable for the rest of the day. Not even a clean bill of health nor the assurance that he could head home tomorrow with the others was enough to uplift his spirits. Both were given by Marianne when she dropped by to check up on him. They didn’t exchange much beyond what was necessary, leaving little that could distract him from his tumultuous thoughts.

Claude had been in the center of heated arguments like these before, both in Fodlan and Almyra, so he should have become used to them. Yet as he laid in his bed, he was utterly exhausted, drained of all energy. He couldn’t do much besides sleep, stare at the ceiling, play with his newly grown feathers, and go over the arguments in his head. Those memories at first rubbed his emotions raw, as if he was experiencing them for the first time again, but the more he thought about everything, the more numb he felt towards the entire situation, and that numbness allowed him to view things more objectively.

If he was being perfectly honest with himself, Claude could have handled things much better. He could have actually explained himself calmly, instead of immediately assuming the worst out from everyone the moment his dark secret was revealed. And while he allowed himself to indulge his cynicism, he said things he couldn’t take back. At the same time, he felt like some of his dour remarks were warranted. When his worst fears were being played out before his very eyes, and when faced with something as aggravating as Hilda’s unprompted opinion on Almyrans, how else was he supposed to react?

Regardless of what Claude should have and shouldn’t have done, the task of fixing burnt bridges was more daunting than ever. As night arrived and painted his unfamiliar room in dark shadows, he was tempted to just hide under his blankets and just stay there forever. 

But instead, as the sun rose on a new day, he decided against dodging the inevitable. He couldn’t, not when it involved his longtime allies and a certain harpy that wormed her way into her heart. So Claude forced himself out of bed, got properly dressed, and placed a hand on the doorknob, only to realize that his head feathers stuck out like sore thumbs. Even though the Golden Deer already knew of them, the Ordelian villa staff certainly didn’t. He had to hastily scourge around the room for anything that could cover them, but only managed to find a pink hat with a cute bear charm pinned to its side. This accessory undoubtedly belonged to Lysithea, perhaps when she was younger. It certainly didn’t suit Claude’s usual style, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And he could think of several ways it could work out for him, ways that he silently repeated to himself as he strolled out of the room with a girly hat over his feathers.

To his surprise, Claude had a hard time finding the Golden Deer he wanted to talk to the most. He only found Ignatz, Raphael, Leonie, and Marianne, all in the middle of packing up their things. They also had more immediate concerns than what happened to the rest of the group.

"Hey Claude, what's with the hat?" Raphael glanced at the aforementioned item.

"Nothing really. Do I need a reason to wear it?" Claude plastered a smile on a face. He didn't care to mention the real reason behind it out loud, but he was sure they got the point anyway.

"I guess not?" Ignatz also eyed the hat warily. "But I don't think Lysithea would appreciate you taking her hat, on top of everything else."

"I would ask her about borrowing it if I could find her. Where is she? And everyone else?"

“Oh, the others left earlier.” Leonie said in a matter-of-fact voice. “They told us they wanted to take the flying mounts with them, so they'll be faster than us anyway, but I doubt that’s the only reason why they left.”

“I bet.” Claude replied dryly. He had no doubt in his mind that Lysithea, Lorenz, and Hilda went ahead because they didn’t want to ride alongside a traitorous, half-harpy Almyran. As inconvenient as this was, Claude chose to let them go for now. He still needed time to think over what to say to them, and he already had his hands full with the people in front of him.

“Oh well. I'll ask her later." Claude shrugged. "By the way, have you guys seen Byleth at all?”

“Nope. Sorry.” Raphael responded. “I haven’t seen her since the argument, actually.”

“Do you think she’s alright? Maybe we ought to look for her…” Marianne wringed her hands.

"I know where she is. She'll be fine." Claude said while casually glancing out the window. The others paused, waiting for an explanation to his cryptic remark. When they didn't get any, they figured that Claude knew what he was talking about and just continued their packing.

The five of them set out on horseback soon enough. Like he predicted, a distant black dot circled lazily above them, almost like a vulture waiting for the carrion below to drop dead. But Claude knew that Byleth wasn't waiting for food. She was waiting for answers from him, and unfortunately, he wasn't sure if he could give them to her just yet. Whenever he thought about revealing secrets that hadn't seen the light of day for six years, the truth of why he came to Fodlan, he just sort of… froze up. Claude cursed his elusive nature that enabled him to survive in Fodlan for so long but prevented him from opening his heart to others, even when he wanted to.

Ignatz caught Claude looking at the sky and rode over to his side. "So that's Byleth up there?"

Claude didn't expect Ignatz to so casually address him, so he hesitated before replying. "Yep."

"I see." Ignatz nodded. An awkward silence passed before the bespectacled man tried his best to fill it. "Did something happen between you two? She was inseparable from you while you were sleeping."

"Yeah. After everything she heard, she doesn't exactly trust me anymore. I don't blame her."

Claude let out a long sigh as he let his eyes wander back up to the circling black dot. After another lengthy pause, he anticipated Ignatz to wander back to his friends, but not only did he stick around, he steered the conversation in a surprising direction.

"I understand how she must be feeling." Ignatz pondered out loud. "I mean, your relationship with her is different than with me, but I get why she needed some space. And that's why I also believe she'll come back around, like I did."

"Ignatz…" Claude felt his name slip from his tongue as if it was an apology.

"Please, you don't need to say anything." Ignatz interrupted him. "I thought about the Almyran situation all night and realized that there was no good solution to your problem. I know why you had to keep the secrets you did, while also acting decisively to save your friends."

"Ignatz, I almost sliced your heart out. You could have died. That’s not something to be taken lightly." Claude frowned deeply. 

“And neither was the way I stabbed your throat.” Ignatz returned the frown with his own.

“That was an accident though, wasn’t it?”

“It was, but I might have done it on purpose if you didn’t surrender…”

“And I still wouldn’t have begrudged you. You were just doing your job back then.” Claude replied, only for a sigh to escape his lips. “I don’t have nearly as good of an excuse. Not only did I endanger you guys with a risky plan, I pretended to be Lysithea’s most hated torturers to manipulate everyone into more unnecessary battles. All without the least bit of hesitation. As your leader, and as someone you trusted, I shouldn’t have accepted the risk of hurting you. I should have found some other way...”

He wasn’t sure why he rambled on like that, and for a moment, he thought that his rant might have done more harm than good. Ignatz said nothing and only placed a gentle heart over his chest. Over his scarred wound, Claude realized. 

When Ignatz spoke next, it was barely above a whisper. “... I’ll admit that I was hurt when you told us the truth. But like I said, I came to understand the tough position you were in. As our leader, you had to strike the perfect balance between the safety of your allies and success, even if such a task might really be impossible. So please, don’t beat yourself up over it. I think, when we joined the Golden Deer, all of us expected to be a part of your schemes from time to time.” 

"All of you? Really?" Claude raised an eyebrow. His cheeky remark hid his surprise towards the sudden turn of this conversation. He didn’t expect this much empathy from Ignatz only a day after their argument. His night with Raphael must have done him a lot of good.

"W-well, I expected it, at the very least." Ignatz laughed sheepishly. "What I'm trying to say is that, I forgive you for what you did."

His last words rendered Claude speechless. He was aware of Ignatz's kind soul that disliked conflict, but he didn't think it could forgive something like this, since that same soul burned brightly when it was promised justice. His first instinct was to make Ignatz take that forgiveness back. The warm sentiment shouldn't be given away so easily, especially to people like himself who could take advantage of it so easily. But Claude took one look at Ignatz's determined stare and knew that whatever counter he could muster would fall flat.

"Thank you, Ignatz." He finally said after some thought. "I truly am sorry for what I did to you, but you knew that already, didn't you? Otherwise you wouldn’t have forgiven me so quickly."

"I knew." Ignatz's determination faded to reassurance. "You may be a good actor most of the time, but I could tell that you weren't lying when you said you didn't want to hurt me, and you weren't faking your sympathy after the caravan attack."

"Hm? If you figured that out, either you're more perceptive than I originally thought, or I need to step up my acting." Claude smirked.

"O-oh! Your acting was fine! Uncanny, even." Ignatz blurted out. "But I guess there's some matters of the heart that are hard to hide, even for someone like you."

"I don't doubt it." Claude absentmindedly turned his gaze skyward to catch a glimpse of Byleth before she flew behind a cloud. 

Ignatz’s voice called his attention back to earth. “Claude, can you make me a new promise? In lieu of the one you made earlier?”

"What sort of promise?"

"If you're ever faced with another difficult decision, please don’t hesitate to talk with the rest of us. Maybe then you won’t have to be stuck in between a rock and a hard place."

Claude clutched the reins of his horse tightly. As much as he would’ve liked to agree to that right away, Ignatz was actually asking a lot more out of him than those simple words suggested. The true depth of this oath wasn’t easy to explain, either. After carefully pondering over what to say next, he stared unflinchingly at Ignatz while shaking his head.

“I don’t know if I can keep such promises… The decision I had to make wasn’t just balancing success and safety. I had to balance the wellbeing of two warring groups of friends, the two sides of my heritage. That’s not a mess I should drag you into. You might find yourself fighting people you don’t want to fight.”

Ignatz averted his gaze, obviously wounded by Claude’s admission but not wounded enough to speak out against it. Claude himself felt a little guilty over the other man’s non-response. While Claude had to deal with these kinds of dilemmas throughout his entire life, this was probably the first time someone like Ignatz had even considered it. It wasn’t an easy truth to swallow.

Fortunately for him, another set of hoofbeats clambered up to the two of them, drawing Claude’s attention from Ignatz to Leonie. Seeing her approach so readily, after the sour note they left on yesterday, startled Claude, but somehow what she had to say was more shocking.

“Well, that’s a problem you shouldn’t face alone.” Leonie proclaimed without a hint of abashedness. “Come on, Claude. We’ve been through so many tough missions together already. Helping you settle matters with your other friends should be a cinch compared to those.”

“Leonie, didn’t you leave me yesterday because you didn’t want to be a part of my schemes anymore?” 

She jerked her head back, taken aback by his pointed remark, then regained her composure soon enough. “Yeah. I guess I did say stuff like that. Sorry. I was too caught up in the moment to realize that you were already regretting your actions. And now, I figured that the best way to stop your plans from spiraling out of control is to be at your side, not fight against you.”

“Even if you might be committing a bit of treason with me?” Claude cracked a smile.

“Even then. I don’t care much about borders or other invisible lines that divide people. We already broke all those rules when you founded the Golden Deer with commoners like us, anyway. If you think the best way to deal with harpies and Almyrans is with a little heresy, then I’m with you. You’re the expert, and whatever you come up with definitely beats shooting you with another arrow.” Leonie paused for a bit. “That was you I shot at, right?”

“It was. But don’t worry, I got better.” Claude smirked while rubbing a certain spot on his shoulder. “Although, that’s what you’re concerned about? Not the fact that I threw a fireball at you?”

“Your fireball was pathetic, if I could even call it that. It barely scorched my clothes!”

“Ah, that is to say, we would gladly support you, even if it goes against everything we’ve been taught.” Ignatz piped up, his eyes no longer wavering. “You and Byleth already proved us wrong about harpies and Almyra, and you also placed yourself in so much danger to do so, so this is the least we can do as your friends. And… this might be a silly dream, but maybe by helping you, you wouldn’t have to choose between two sides.”

Claude couldn’t help but laugh at what Ignatz said. His sudden outburst elicited looks of concern from Ignatz and Leonie. “It might be a silly dream, but it’s also a noble one.”

“So that’s a yes?” Leonie asked.

“I guess it is.” Claude nodded confidently. “It’s not like I have much of a choice, since you all know who I am now. But not only that… I can’t let the trust you placed in me go to waste. I have to return your faith with my own, as strange of a concept that is. You’ll forgive me if I’m not the best at it, right?”

“Of course.” Ignatz wore a faint smile on his face as he replied. “You don’t even have to divulge everything if you don’t want to. I can’t imagine you would be comfortable with that, after hiding your secrets for so long. But just know that we’re here for you.”

Claude potentially had a lot to say in response, but settled upon a simple “Thank you” and a small grin. He admittedly didn’t expect to utter those words today, especially not for a second time. He thought he would have to do more to get himself back into Ignatz’s and Leonie’s good graces. When they displayed understanding and reached out with their own reassurances instead, it took a lot of weight off of his shoulders. He wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve such friends, but he was sure that his earlier judgement of them was way off the mark.

A loud sigh of relief sounded behind Claude. He whirled around and saw Raphael listening to the chatter with a joyous expression on his face. Next to him, Marianne also smiled, but she didn’t make as big of a show out of it.

“Man, I’m glad that you guys made up!” Raphael exclaimed when Claude turned to meet him. “I was worried that we’ll have a repeat of yesterday again!”

“Yeah, that day was rough for everyone, wasn’t it?” Claude’s own smile diminished. “Still, I’m glad we can talk things out. It’s only too bad that some of the other Deer weren’t here for our conversation…”

A hush from Claude’s statement fell over the five travelers. He didn’t mean for his bitterness to slip out like that, but it was hard to hold his tongue when Hilda’s, Lorenz’s and Lysithea’s absence was so prominent. 

“Um, speaking of them…” Marianne spoke up in a whisper so soft that Claude had to strain his ears to hear. “I talked to Hilda last night about… well, basically everything. She’s still mostly in shock, but she’s trying her best. So if she wants to speak to you… will you hear her out?”

Claude bit down on his tongue to prevent another harsh remark from escaping his lips. If Hilda was ‘trying her best’ yesterday, he would hate to see what her worst was like. At the same time, he didn’t want to close himself off to her completely. She had done a lot for him, enough to consider her a friend if it weren’t for the obvious barrier in between them. It didn’t sit right with Claude to throw all of that away without giving her another chance. And even if he didn’t want to reconcile for Hilda’s sake, he could at least do it for Marianne. The kind and gentle woman disliked confrontation of any sort, so it must have taken a lot out of her to step in and talk to Hilda in Claude’s stead. 

“Yeah. I will.” He eventually answered. “Did she mention what she wanted to say to me?”

“A... bit? Hilda seemed apologetic after our discussion, but I don’t know if she sounded that way just to appease me. I’m sorry that I couldn’t defend you when she yelled at you earlier…”

“It’s alright, Marianne. You’ve already done enough for me. Thank you.” Claude murmured. It wasn’t that he needed people to speak in his stead, although with how frazzled his nerves were, any extra support was welcome. It was the fact that if anyone could break through Hilda’s stubbornness, it would be Marianne and her quiet dignity. The two women were extraordinarily close with each other, to the point that Hilda might listen to Marianne over Claude, even if Claude wasn’t a half-harpy Almyran. 

Marianne, understanding his unspoken point, let their conversation give way to Leonie’s interjection. “Will you try to make peace with Lorenz and Lysithea too? The rest of us tried to talk some sense into them, but our conversation ended up more like a shouting match. Still, I’d hate it if this is how the Golden Deer is going to end.”

“I don’t think we’re done just yet. I’ll talk to them when we get back.” Claude said with some trepidation in his voice. Unlike Hilda, Lorenz and Lysithea had no simple paths into their hearts and minds. They also had different reasons why they distrusted him, reasons so potent they didn’t want to ride alongside him. Whatever they had to say to Claude, or whatever Claude had to say to them, would have to be said carefully. Otherwise, any hope of mending their bonds was as good as gone.

The heartfelt conversations between the five of them couldn't shave off their time on the road, but at least it made the trip back home more bearable. The only thing that would have made it better would be if Byleth was flying alongside him instead of above him. The morning after a night's stay in an inn, on the last leg of their journey, Claude watched Byleth dive out of the clouds to snatch some prey off the ground. She perched in a faraway tree to eat her freshly caught breakfast, giving Claude a reason to halt their march. If they continued onward, they would end up leaving Byleth behind.

She apparently noticed their halted procession, but to Claude's dismay, she didn't visit him to say anything about it. In her place, Sothis materialized out of thin air, startling him enough to nearly throw him off of Dayan.

"Byleth says that you don't have to wait for her. You can continue on and she'll catch up." She narrowed her eyes as she spoke, like she really didn’t want to be here.

Claude opened his mouth to reply, then remembered that the others couldn't see the phantom in front of him. If he held a casual conversation with Sothis right now, he would just look like a raving madman. Moreso, anyway.

He made sure that none of them were looking in his direction before responding under his breath. “How did you even get here?”

"Are you asking how is this possible?" Sothis inquired. When met with a nod, she shrugged and flipped her hair. "Apparently, as long as I'm in Byleth's line of sight, I can appear wherever I want and speak to whomever I please. But this does not mean I should be the middleman between you two! Honestly, just talk to Byleth already!"

Claude pursed his lips together. Sothis was lucky that he couldn't retort back directly. She regarded Claude with an expectant stare for a long moment, then groaned in a way that was impossible for him to ignore.

“How much more time do you possibly need?” Sothis crossed her arms. “I noticed that you’ve already made things up with your friends. Surely talking to Byleth can’t be that much harder?”

But it was. Claude hadn’t given his currently present friends the full rundown of his life and the circumstances that brought him here. He only told them what they needed to hear. And he wasn’t just saying things to satisfy them. He sincerely meant all these words from his heart. Claude was only fortunate that they didn’t require anything else. He was certain that his talk with Byleth was going to give him a harder time with how much more of himself he needed to reveal.

Sothis, eager for a response, hovered dangerously to his face. Claude instinctively tried to swat her away, but his hand phased right through her. She grinned at his futile attempt, which only infuriated Claude further. He once again made sure no one was looking at him before he finally replied back with, “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?! Really?!” Sothis shrieked into his ears. “You’ve already had a day and a half to think about it!”

“But will Byleth really be in a mood to listen after so much flying?” Claude whispered back.

“Hm, I suppose not.” Sothis relented with a sigh. “She is already pretty cranky, although I wonder how much of that comes from your reluctance to speak with her.”

“Hey, Claude! Who are you talking to?” Raphael’s shouts disrupted his one-sided conversation. 

Claude whipped his head back so Raphael could see his sheepish smile. “I’m not talking to anyone. I’m just… thinking out loud.”

“Oh dear. Already starting the lies again, mockingbird?” Sothis chided in a truly irritating tone. “Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. Admitting to hallucinations of a winged girl would only make them fret about other potential side effects of Byleth’s spell. And even though I enjoy watching you squirm, it isn’t worth risking Byleth’s reputation.”

Claude turned his gaze back to the road ahead in order to also glare furiously at Sothis. She just responded with a shit-eating grin. Seriously, how did Byleth deal with someone like her constantly yammering in her head? Claude ought to give the harpy more credit, as well as the long-awaited truth, but he already told Sothis that he was going to do that tomorrow. With a flick of his reins, he ushered Dayan forward, barreling through and past Sothis until she was a distant memory.

Thankfully, Sothis didn’t bother to speak with Claude after Byleth returned to the skies. The motley crew made it back to the Riegan estate during the late afternoon, when the sun began its descent towards the horizon but didn’t quite make it there yet. Claude usually enjoyed horseback riding, perhaps more so than other people. Yet when the familiar gates came into view, he felt more relieved than anything else. Partially because his body hadn’t completely recovered from his ordeal, so it ached all over when he dismounted from his horse and brought him back to the stables. 

That should have been a sign to take the rest of the day off, but Claude had important things to say to people. He couldn’t allow himself a break, not yet. But contrary to what one might think, his first destination wasn’t the von Riegan manor, where Lysithea, Lorenz, and Hilda undoubtedly were, or even the cabin in the woods, where Byleth retired to after a long flight. Claude actually made a beeline towards the wyvern aviary to meet an old friend he hadn’t seen in a while.

As soon as Claude entered the room, a gust of wind from flapping wings blew his hat off of his head. Claude paid no attention to that and reached out a hand to rub Vaida’s snout. The white wyvern let out a low-pitched growl that would have alarmed anyone else but Claude. She pushed her nose against his hand repeatedly until she broke past it and nuzzled the top of his head instead.

“Hey, girl.” Claude used both hands to direct Vaida and her sharp teeth away from his hair. “It’s good to see you too, but be gentle with me, kay? You have no idea what I’ve been through while I was gone.”

Vaida snorted, as if she knew exactly what Claude was talking about. Her breath made the tips of his head feathers twitch. Captivated by the sudden movement, Vaida brought her snout close enough to sniff at them. Claude let out a chuckle and nudged her away again.

“Vaida, you’ve seen me with feathers before. In fact, you’ve known me longer with them than without. Don’t act like I’m suddenly a different person now that I grew them back.”

Claude paused, his most recent words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. Vaida, sensing his melancholy, backed off. She sat down on the sandy floor and tilted her head inquisitively, her amber eyes never peeling away from his feathers.

“Yeah, they’re here to stay for the time being.” Claude sat down beside her. Once he pressed his back against her flank, a scaly tail wrapped around him protectively. “It’s not like it’ll do me any good to pluck them out now anyway. Everyone knows about them already.”

His wyvern snorted, then lowered her head to rest it on Claude’s lap. He started scratching at the scales behind her antlers, a favorite spot to be itched. Vaida’s rumbling, akin to a purr, shook his entire body, but they didn’t drown out his continued laments.

“Somehow, my feathers weren’t the biggest shock to them. Well, it was to Hilda and Lorenz, but the night I rescued Lamassu and the other Almyrans was actually the more important issue. Do you remember that? I guess not, since I had to leave you on behind that hill for that mission. Evil dark mages don’t fly around on white wyverns, after all.”

His recounting of that night spurred him to tell Vaida about everything else that happened. Claude talked about their botched mission in Alban, everything that Kronya did to him, how Byleth apparently saved him while also learning the fate of her human friend, his dream with Sothis, and the lively discussion with Byleth and the Golden Deer. All while he traced the edges of Vaida’s scales with wayward fingers, admiring the graceful yet methodical pattern. Vaida herself relaxed under his touch, her eyelids drooping during his heavy confession. If Claude had been talking to anyone else, he would have been mightily offended by the disinterest. But he couldn’t expect much from a wyvern, even from a wyvern that was also his childhood friend. Besides, just airing his grievances did wonders for his mind. The one-sided conversation helped him organize his thoughts, come up with responses to future questions, and clean out resentful emotions that would only serve to hinder him.

“Anyway, I managed to reconcile with Ignatz and Leonie, and Raphael and Marianne were already pretty understanding, but I don’t know what to say to the others.” Claude lifted his hands away to rub his sleeves. “Words alone aren’t going to change the minds of people who hate who I am as well as what I did. Nor are words enough for Byleth. She deserves much more than that. Not only did she save my life twice already, she might hold the key for what I’ve been seeking. Her and Sothis anyway. And also...”

He stopped himself before he could tell Vaida how he really felt about Byleth. It didn’t feel right to profess to his wyvern before the harpy herself. Vaida blinked her eyes open, as if she noticed his sudden pause, and lifted her head ever so slightly.

“I wonder if you even understood a thing I said.” Claude laughed to himself. “Anyway, what do you think I should do?”

“I think you should stop being a coward and talk to her already!”

A shrill voice made Claude glance around frantically. He thought for a moment that Vaida had suddenly learned Fodlanese, but no. There was no way her voice would be that high-pitched and girly. After several seconds of searching, Claude finally found the source of the interruption by looking up at the ceiling. Hilda’s curious face peeked over the edge of a large, barred hole used by servants to drop food off. Her pink hair dangled in the air, providing enough temptation to rouse Vaida from her sleepy state. She growled and bared her fangs as her golden stare fixated on the near-intruder above her.

“Hilda?!” Claude hurriedly stood up. “What are you- Nevermind that. Wait right there and I’ll come to you. And pull your hair back up before it becomes Vaida’s next plaything!”

He grabbed his pink hat off the floor, slapped it against his pants to get all the sand out, then placed it over his feathers as he dashed out the door. Moments later, he made his way to the top of the wyvern aviary where Hilda stood, thankfully far away from the hole to Vaida’s room.

"Wait a sec. Isn't that Lysithea's?" Hilda gestured towards the pink thing on Claude's head.

"Yeah. I plan to give it back to her later. I just needed to borrow it for now." Claude shrugged in a nonchalant manner. By refusing to make a big deal out of his feathers, he could maybe encourage Hilda to not make a big deal out of it too. And then maybe this conversation wouldn't end on a heated note like last time.

"What are you doing up here anyway? It's very unladylike to eavesdrop on people." Claude forced himself to smile.

"It's also very rude to come back without greeting your friends first!" Hilda pouted.

"Hey, I'll have you know that Vaida is a very dear friend of mine! And she doesn't mind who I am, unlike other people!"

Hilda took an affronted step back. It was rare that she was genuinely upset by Claude's banter, and not just pretending to be upset to keep up her 'delicate maiden' facade. Her honest reaction compelled Claude to take back his words with a sigh. This is not how he wanted to start his first meeting with Hilda since their argument.

But to his surprise, Hilda was the one who broke the awkward silence first. “Yeah, about that… Can we just, like, talk?”

“Sure.” Claude said simply. He didn’t allow himself to say more, lest some of his edge crept back into his voice. The two of them sat down on a nearby bench. Hilda stayed quiet for a moment as she pondered over her response, another rarity for her. Her pink eyes glanced at Claude’s hat before meeting his patient gaze and opening her mouth.

“... To be honest, this is still very surreal to me. I keep thinking that this is a horrible nightmare and when I wake up, everything will be back to normal.”

Claude nodded, again prohibiting himself from speaking. Truthfully, the past several days have been like his worst nightmare come to life. The torture, the forced reveal, the subsequent fighting and abandonment… In comparison, Hilda hadn’t suffered as much at all, but Claude knew better than to point that out. At least she didn’t open this discussion with something her brother said. Still, he had to repeat Marianne’s words in his head like a mantra. She was trying her best. 

“But things can’t go back to normal. Because all of this,” Hilda gestured to the entirety of Claude, “is normal. For you, anyway. We just didn’t know about it. And now that we do know, I had to ask myself an important question. Is Claude von Riegan still the great Leader Man that can guide us into battle and crack a joke in the same breath? Or is he a half-harpy Almyran that was just waiting for the chance to swoop in and obliterate us all?”

Claude inhaled sharply through gritted teeth. She was trying her best, he said to himself.

Hilda, noticing his reaction, shot him a surprisingly mournful look. “I know it sounds stupid, but I really just couldn’t reconcile what I thought of you with what I thought of Almyrans and harpies. I’m sure you’ve heard of this before, but House Goneril has a lot of first-hand accounts about the raiders at the border. Those stories instilled a healthy fear of Almyrans in me ever since I was a little girl. And then when I found out that you orchestrated the prisoner convoy attack that almost killed Ignatz, your little stunt… pretty much confirmed my worst opinions. But instead of feeling spiteful, I was  _ hurt _ . After knowing each other for six years and sticking my neck for you, the fact that you never trusted us was like a huge slap in my face.”

She let out a deep sigh as her fingers curled into her knees. “Thank the Goddess that Marianne had a cool enough head to talk to me later that night. She made me realize that… I haven’t been exactly the nicest friend to you either. How many times have I said horrible things about Almyrans and harpies? I was essentially calling you a bloodthirsty, man-eating barbarian all this time, and you just stood there, smiled, and pretended that I didn't bother you. Why, if I was in your shoes, I would've beaten the bloody crap out of myself!"

“Yeah, but you’re you.” Claude smirked. “And I’ve been called worse things. I knew I was getting into when I came to Fodlan.”

“That doesn’t make any of this right!” Hilda scowled. “It’s no wonder you never trusted anyone! You never even felt safe around us! Had I known that you were Almyran, and a half-harpy, from the start, I would have driven you out of our class.myself! Or even…”

She glanced off to the side. Claude didn’t need her to finish her sentence to know what she was about to say. And she wasn’t wrong. When he joined the Leicester Alliance’s Officer Academy, he was honestly a bit scared of the daughter of House Goneril. If anyone could sniff out his secrets, it would be her. Yet she never did. Because of her obliviousness, or Claude’s sheer dumb luck, they were able to get along for the next six years, which lead up to this very moment.

“What about now?” Claude asked with a tilt of his head.

“Now? Of course I don’t want to get rid of you!” Hilda shifted her now-indignant gaze back to him. “Who else can lead our ragtag group like you can? Not I, that’s for sure! I mean, sure you fooled us for so long, but you had good reasons to. And it’s not like I’m one to talk when I manipulate people into doing my chores for me all the time.”

Following her little outburst, her eyes lowered again. “You are a swell guy, Claude, even better than most other Fodlan-born people. I was stupid to put your origins before who you really are. So I guess, in a round-about way, I want to say that… I’m sorry. For every nasty thing I said.”

Hilda fell quiet. It didn’t feel right to not believe her after she uncharacteristically spilled her heart out for him, but Claude couldn’t find it in himself to fill that awkward void. Despite the evidence in front of him, he thought it would take more than two days in order for Hilda to overcome her prejudices. If it was that easy to dispel ideas about outsiders taught since childhood, Fodlan and Almyra would have a much better relationship by now. But even if Hilda still had a long way to go in that regard, her apology nonetheless struck a chord within his heart. Someone as bullish as Hilda didn’t say these earnest words on a whim, after all.

Apparently, Hilda interpreted his silence as a refusal of sorts. She moved like she was about to stand up. “I get it if you don’t want to accept my apology, but I really mean every word of it. So, uh, give it some thought?”

“I already did.” Claude said before she could leave. 

His words dispelled much of the sorrow in her eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. And to be honest, you weren’t off the mark about me. You asked me, back then, how I could treat my friends of six years this way, but really, I don't think I ever considered you guys my friends.” 

Claude took a deep breath before he continued on. Rambling like this went against his duplicitous nature, but he forced himself to keep going anyway. It helped that he already confessed a lot to Ignatz and Vaida. If he imagined the woman in front of him as one of them, the words from his heart came more naturally to his tongue.

“Allies, sure. Stalwart comrades-in-arms on the battlefield, most definitely. But friends? In my dictionary, friends are people I could trust with my secrets. As you’ve already figured out, I could never trust you with anything because it was too dangerous for me. So in that sense, you never knew me at all.”

"Claude…" Hilda started to say, only to be interrupted by him again.

"Let me finish.” He held up a hand. “To be honest, I don't think I was ever going to tell anyone the truth anytime soon. I was satisfied with keeping everyone at arm's length. But after my secrets were laid bare, no one immediately tried to kill me.”

Hilda snorted in the middle of his rant. “‘Not killing you’ shouldn’t be a major plus. That’s just a bit messed up.”

“Heh. Just a bit. But when you’re me, you’ll take whatever you can get.” Claude smirked back. “Anyway, imagine my surprise when not only did you guys not shun me, you went so far as to talk and apologize to me. Even you, who has no reason to reconcile with an Almyran. For that…”

He trailed off, unable to voice his thoughts adequately, before beginning again. “Like you said earlier, everything can’t go back to the way it was. So let’s start over with something new. Let’s be actual friends. That is, if you were actually serious about your apology.”

“Of course I’m serious! And I’ll gladly be your friend. For real, this time.” Hilda nodded as she stuck out a hand. When Claude took it, she unexpectedly pulled him into a hug. Their contact lasted so briefly, he wondered if he was just imagining it. But when they separated from each other, the smile on Hilda’s face was too warm to be fake.

“You know, you tried to wipe your last hug away because you thought my feathers are contagious.” He pointed out. “So I’m guessing now you think otherwise?”

“Oh. Uh.” Hilda’s gaze conspicuously darted to his arms for a second. “Sorry for freaking out like that. I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Hm. You’re sure that you don't need any help getting used to them?” Claude took off his hat and revealed his feathered crests to the world. Hilda flinched at the sight of them and averted her gaze, but then forced herself to make eye contact with him again. 

It was as he expected. Hilda was still somewhat uncomfortable with his feathers, but he didn’t think she was going to change her mind that quickly. Now when the people of Almyra, who consisted of both humans and harpies, didn’t handle his hybrid nature that well either. And yet, her strained facial expression made his ‘test’ worthwhile to Claude anyway.

“Eugh! Don’t tease me!” Hilda gave up and pouted as she looked away. “We were just having a nice, insightful conversation and you had to ruin it!”

“What, with my feathers? You’re the one who said you wouldn’t freak out anymore.” 

“That doesn’t mean-” When Hilda glanced back, Claude wiggled the feathers on his head, much to her shock. Her jaw dropped at how they twitched. “They can move?!”

“Yeah. Why couldn’t they? You can move your ears, can’t you?” For emphasis, he raised them up and down even more. It seemed he found a secret weakness of Hilda that he was totally going to exploit while he can.

“Of course I can! But not like that!” Hilda exclaimed. Her face was growing redder by the second. “Ugh, seriously Claude! If this is how you handle a serious talk, then I’d hate to hear how you’re going to confess to Byleth!”

“What makes you think I’m doing that?” Claude set Lysithea’s hat back on his head while a knowing smile crept up on Hilda’s face. It seemed like Hilda found a weakness of his too. 

“Even if I hadn’t eavesdropped on your conversation with your wyvern just now, it’s painfully obvious that you have something to tell her.”

“I just plan on telling her what I told you.” He paused for a moment, then added, “Well, and then some.”

“Suuuure.” Hilda rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I have to wonder if just dumping your feelings on her is the right way to go about things. She’s pretty infatuated with you, maybe since the very beginning, but then she broke up with you so abruptly. You’re going to need a lot more than words to fix your relationship.”

Claude wanted to refute her claim of infatuation, but he knew that was a hopeless endeavor. Hilda, the idealistic romantic she was, never stopped chasing any hint of a crush once she caught wind of it. Besides, Claude couldn’t deny the connection between Byleth and himself any longer, although he didn’t think he needed to go to the lengths that Hilda suggested. Or did he? Byleth never closed herself off to him before, so this was admittedly uncharted territory for him. He might have to resort to drastic measures to win her back.

He supposed that was why he continued to humor her. “What are you thinking, Hilda?”

Hilda’s eyes sparkled as she let her imagination run wild. “Hm. You should give her a gift, first off. If I had an argument with someone, nothing would make me feel better than a shiny and expensive present. Or a bouquet of flowers. I dunno if harpies would spring for those sorts of things though.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Byleth isn’t a materialistic kind of girl.” Claude said, putting emphasis on Byleth’s name. Despite Hilda’s flawed thinking, he could see her point. A gift might ease the tension between them, but what could he give her? Somehow, he couldn’t envision Byleth’s reaction to flowers or shiny things, probably because she usually didn’t have much of a reaction towards anything in the first place.

Claude started rattling off Byleth’s favorite activities in an effort to come up with something. “She likes reading, flying, preening herself, fishing, singing, eating… Aha! That’s it!”

“What, are you seriously going to give her food?” Hilda narrowed her eyes, then widened them as she arrived at the same idea as him. “Oh, I see! You’re going to take her out to a fancy dinner?”

“Not quite, but it’s just as good. The only problem is that I need to talk to Lorenz about it, and he still hasn’t forgiven me yet.”

“Huh? What do you need Lorenz for?” Hilda raised an eyebrow.

Claude, sensing either ridicule or objection in the future if he told her outright, opted to just smile at Hilda instead. “Why don’t you come with me and find out? I’m pretty sure I'm going to need your help anyway.”

Hilda sensed trouble brewing, and yet she tagged along either to quell that trouble or add to it. She told Claude where Lorenz could be found, and soon enough, they strolled up to his office door and knocked. A few seconds later, the Gloucester heir himself opened the door, his passive expression souring at the sight of Claude.

"Oh. It's you." He said in an icy voice.

"Hey, Lorenz." Claude began, only to spot a white-haired woman sitting at a desk further inside. She was bent over some paper in intense concentration, but glanced up to give Claude a look of silent scorn.

"And Lysithea! I'm glad to see you too!" He disregarded her ire and waved at her. "I actually had to borrow something of yours, but you can have it back now."

Claude took off his hat and reached it through the doorway, knowing full well that he displayed his head feathers in the process. As expected, Lorenz took a step back from Claude with disdain on his face, while Lysithea recoiled in her seat. He even felt Hilda flinch beside him.

“Oh! Uh, you can actually keep that hat if you want.” Lysithea told him, her pink eyes fixated on the top of his head.

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to deprive you of something so cute.” Claude, against his better judgement, shot her a wink.

Lysithea’s cheeks blushed fiercely as she opened her mouth to say something. Probably an indignant retort of some sort. But she obviously changed her mind, and shifted to a quieter but no less haughty tone. 

“I-it’s perfectly fine! It’s an old hat anyway. I haven’t worn it, or anything like that, since I was a child.”

“Claude, do you have something vital to say or are you just here to torment Lysithea?” Lorenz asked in an equally disgruntled tone. “And please, put that hat back on before someone sees you.”

Claude set his hat back over his feathers. His simple, seemingly careless gesture told him all he needed to know. Firstly, he disarmed Lysithea enough to ease the tension between them. Secondly, the fact that Lorenz asked him to put his hat back on spoke volumes about the current state of their relationship. A nobleman of House Gloucester normally wouldn’t care if someone from House Riegan ousted themselves out of recklessness. 

His assumptions gave him the conviction to carry on. “Actually, I did want to talk with both of you. Do you mind if we come in?”

Lorenz was understandably hesitant, but a stern look from Hilda made up his mind for him. With a loud sigh, he opened the door further. “Very well. But please make this brief. Lysithea and I are in the middle of some important work.”

“What kind of work are you two up to?” Hilda asked innocently as she and Claude entered the office. 

“We were originally calculating the possible whereabouts of Solon after he fled the battle.” Lysithea frowned. “But it’s been slow work, to say the least. So we have been also trying to sort out and make sense of other information we gathered from the Slitherers’ base.”

“And I wasn’t invited?” Claude asked with a smile, even though he already knew the answer.

“Not after your allegiance has been called into question, no.” Lorenz’s scowl deepened. “This work is as sensitive as it is important. We cannot have it leaked to  _ outsiders _ .”

Claude bit down on his tongue before he could hastily spit out a reply he would regret. He needed to keep his temper in control if he wanted to avoid a repeat of the last time they spoke. It took him a scant second to come up with a different set of words.

“That’s what I came here to talk about, actually. Just because I hold ties to a different country doesn’t make me a traitor.”

“Funny, because that is in fact the definition of a traitor. Or do you think we should just ignore the fact that you attacked us to free prisoners we rightfully captured?”

“I know that asking you to ignore that is impossible. Even I have regrets over how my plan turned out.” Claude let out a heavy sigh. “But just because our countries are divided by an arbitrary line doesn’t mean we should stop caring about the people from across it. Do you know what House Goneril would have done with those prisoners if they made it there? The harpy, Lamassu, would’ve been brutally tortured for information, and the remaining Almyrans would have followed in her footsteps. Was I supposed to just sit back and let  _ people _ suffer such cruel fates?”

Claude looked straight into Lorenz’s eyes, all other sounds of the room dissipating into thin air. The directness of his speech and the boldness of his voice surprised even himself. Maybe his previous talks with Ignatz, Hilda, Vaida, and the other Golden Deer gave him the courage he so desperately needed. Except if Lorenz started waxing about how harpies were abominations born outside of the Goddess’s realm, and thus not deserving of any mercy, Claude didn’t know what he would do.

Thankfully, Lorenz wisely decided against saying anything so provocative. “Claude, these Almyrans invaded the Leicester Alliance. You said that they were harmless, but they raided countless villages before we put a stop to them.”

“Ok, maybe harmless wasn’t the right word. The Almyrans hate the Fodlanese as the Fodlanese hate Almyrans, so they saw no problem in pillaging villages for food and such. I’m not excusing that sort of behavior at all. But that doesn’t mean I should let them die, especially when I could resolve things peacefully.”

“Could you? When those dastards attacked us first, it didn’t appear to me that they were in the mood for a civil conversation.” Lorenz pursed his lips into a frown. 

Claude returned the frown. “Well, yeah, they’re like that sometimes, but I had everything under control.”

“At the price of our safety? We didn’t escape that battle completely unscathed. By the Goddess, Marianne’s hand was skewered by a feather-dagger from one of your ‘friends’! A lord of House Riegan shouldn’t be biased towards raiders that purposefully and unlawfully crossed our borders. You have a duty to the Leicester Alliance that must be upheld, no matter the difficult decisions that have to be made.”

“Yes, I’m perfectly aware of my difficult decisions.” Claude suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. The nonsense that Lorenz spewed infuriated him, and he did his best to keep his demeanor calm. Still, some of his frustration leaked into his voice as biting venom.

“But you just don’t  _ get it _ . Lamassu, Shedu, Anqa, and the humans under their command are part of my duty too. I know the notion of Almyrans and Fodlanese lives being equally valuable is crazy to you, so let’s think of it in another way. Let’s say that House Gloucester decides to defect to the Adrestian Empire, who has declared war on the Leicester Alliance. Would you side with your home, or with the country that you’ve sworn to defend?”

“What is the meaning-”

“And,” Claude continued through Lorenz’s protests, “Would you stand by your decision proudly, no matter who you would confront? Just humor me and think about it for a second, won’t you?”

He actually got Lorenz to shut up for once. The nobleman’s indignation turned into shock, then pensiveness while he mulled over the hypothetical situation. Honestly, for all the years Claude had known him, he didn’t know which side Lorenz would choose in this made-up war. But no matter his decision, he would undoubtedly feel as conflicted as Claude did, all those weeks ago. 

“Claude.” Lysithea spoke up while Lorenz contemplated. “I have to ask, how were you even sure that the Almyrans would leave Fodlan peacefully? Why were they even here in the first place?”

Claude paused in order to gather his thoughts. This was not something he expected to explain when he walked in here. “Almyran harpies have this rite of passage called the Reclamation Trial, where they take something significant from the people of Fodlan to prove their might. Lamassu actually wanted to bring me back home for her Trial, but I told her I couldn’t come back yet. I gave her a letter instead, and she was happy with that.”

“A letter? How could a standard letter end a debacle such as this?” Lorenz inquired. “Unless it held important information that cannot fall into the enemies’ hands...”

“I told you before that I haven’t done anything for Almyra ever since I left. But I understand if you can’t take my word for it.” Claude suddenly turned to the pink-haired woman standing behind him. “Say, Hilda. Holst writes to you about the situation at the border all the time, right? Did he mention how quiet things got soon after the Almyran prisoners were ‘killed’?”

“Now that you mention it, he did say something along those lines.” Hilda said thoughtfully.

“Is that what your letter was about?” Lorenz interjected.

“Not quite, although I’m sure it had an influence. What really caused the skirmishes to dial back was a touching reunion between the general behind those attacks and his daughter and son that he thought he lost to Fodlan.”

Lorenz’s eyes widened slightly at the revelation. “You mean to say…?”

“That Almyrans sometimes have reasons to cause trouble? That there can be bloodless resolutions to conflicts?” Claude interrupted Lorenz with a smirk. “Of course, I wouldn’t expect you guys to know that peace was an option. You barely know anything about Almyra besides the drivel they teach you at schools and such. But for someone like me, who’s born of two different nations, I can’t allow the Almyrans and the Fodlanese to kill each other. In fact, that’s why I came here in the first place, and why I can’t go back just yet. I want to build a world where no one will have to choose between their homelands in the first place.”

All other sounds besides Claude’s furiously beating heart fell away. The room became so quiet, one could hear a pin drop. Did he maybe say too much? He wasn’t usually the kind of person to talk about plans so close to his heart, but in the heat of the moment, those words flowed from his lips without pause. Now that they were out there, he was actually somewhat frightened that they wouldn’t take his dreams as seriously as he did.

A bright smile on Hilda’s face chased away that concern. “That is so like you, Claude! Of course you would be brewing some grand, revolutionary scheme to change the world!”

“Indeed. It shouldn’t surprise me that you harbored noble intentions all this time.” Lorenz sounded a bit regretful for once? “I would have said that such lofty ambitions are outside of anyone’s reach, but if anyone can make them happen, it would be you.”

“Wow, that’s probably the nicest thing you said to me for the past six years.” Claude couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, by the way. I’m surprised you agreed with me, seeing as how my dream world would include lots and lots of harpies.”

“Must you jest when I’m being sincere?” Lorenz sighed.

“Oh, no. The part about harpies wasn’t a joke.” He gave the purple-haired man a smug grin. Once his rebuttal soaked in, Lorenz’s exasperation gave way to shock, pure and simple. Claude would have liked to bask in Lorenz’s flabbergasted expression, but there were other people in the room too. While Hilda also looked a bit taken back by what Claude said, Lysithea stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before speaking through gritted teeth.

“Claude, I understand why you did what you did, but did you really have to drag Those Who Slither in the Dark into it? For all your talk about difficult decisions, it sounded like you didn’t even bat an eye when you chose to use the name of someone as monstrous and evil as them.”

“Yeah, that was…” Claude began, only for his flimsy words to peter out. The truth wasn’t going to be an easy one to confess to or digest. He took a deep breath and tried again.

“I’m sorry about that. I’ll admit that I didn’t think about how invoking their namesake would hurt you, mostly because I thought that you would never find out. Believe me, I hate their guts just as much as you do. So I thought by pretending to be them, I could solve two problems at once. I would get all suspicion off me, and direct you guys towards an enemy that needs to be vanquished. But, well, you know how things turned out.”

His gaze remained level with Lysithea’s. Claude hoped that she accepted his explanation, if only because he didn’t know what else he could say. He felt like he deserved some of the young mage’s ire, no matter how good his intentions were. After all, Those Who Slither in the Dark was just as much of a sensitive subject for Lysithea as the Almyrans were for Claude. Perhaps even moreso, on the account that they tortured her and stole her otherwise bright future.

Whether she was placated or not remained to be seen. Her eyes stayed wide as she spoke, not out of surprise but out of curiosity. “How did you even think of using their name for your plan in the first place?”

Claude blinked before answering. Right. He had been so fixated on the consequences of his actions that he almost forgot how it all began. “It started with the group of bandits we defeated in Acheron’s territory. Remember the leader? He hinted that he knew I wasn’t from here, and that made me worry about people knowing what they shouldn’t know.”

“That was the real reason behind your request to contact my friend in the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery?” Lorenz asked.

“It was.”

“Claude, are you saying that you knew that Those Who Slither in the Dark were an active threat this entire time?” Lysithea hissed out. 

“Not for that long. I only made the connection to the bandit leader and those guys soon after we captured the Almyrans.”

“But you still held it back from me. You kept it a secret until it was convenient for you.” Lysithea’s face became contorted with anger, and rightfully so. “Was the promise you made for me just out of convenience too?”

“No. Of course it wasn’t.” Claude hurriedly shook his head, despite how desperate it would make him seem. “I really do want to help you find a cure. In fact, now that my secrets are out in the open, I can tell you some alternative treatments I have in mind.”

“I’m not sure if I like the sound of that.” Lysithea narrowed her eyes.

“Oooh! Are you talking about the weird harpy trick, when Byleth stabbed you in the heart?” Hilda abruptly exclaimed, much to Claude’s bewilderment.

“Byleth did what now?”

“She took one of her feathers, stabbed herself in the heart to coat it with her blood, and then stabbed you. All while singing a song.” 

“Yeah that’s... purely a Byleth thing. I’ve never heard of a ritual like that anywhere.” Claude couldn’t help but grimace while placing a hand over his chest. This sudden revelation highlighted his need to talk to her all the more. Although to do that, he still needed to ask Lorenz about what he came here for

As if Hilda read his mind, she yelped, “Oh yeah! Claude, weren’t you here to ask something of Lorenz? To make up with her?”

“What did you want of me?” Lorenz directed his sharp stare towards Claude. He didn’t sound as upset anymore, which meant Claude’s efforts at reconciliation probably did him some good. Or he relished in the opportunity to lord something over Claude.

Whatever the case may be, he found it difficult to answer Lorenz. “Well, Lorenz, I want to borrow your tea set again.”

“You’re having a tea party with her? Really? That’s your grand idea to fix things?” Hilda sounded more baffled than condescending, which Claude supposed was a blessing of sorts.

“Hey, I had a tea party with her before, and she liked it a lot. In fact, I promised her that we would have tea again after my mission to Alban. It just got delayed for several… obvious reasons.”

“Claude, you mean to tell me that you allowed a harpy to drink from my tea set?!” Lorenz’s face went pale at the very exclamation. Claude would have found his reaction funny if it wasn’t an outright refusal to his request.

“I’ll have you know that Byleth was very careful with your cups and I washed them thoroughly after we were done. In fact, you wouldn’t have noticed a thing if I had kept quiet about it. And, just so you know, harpy saliva can’t actually kill people.” 

Despite Lorenz’s offended tone, Claude couldn’t not tease him. The tea-loving man never hesitated to loan his fancy tea set to his friends whenever someone really needed to be impressed. Yet somehow, this occasion was different because Claude’s other party member wasn’t human. 

“Even still, this is exactly why I cannot take your words at face value! You would deceive me over something as innocuous as a tea set!” Lorenz crossed his arms and glared, signs that this conversation was taking a more serious turn again.

Yet, Claude wasn’t dissuaded. “Come on, this is Byleth we’re talking about. She deserves tea from the finest tea set I have to offer.”

“And she did save your life. Letting her drink from your cups seems like a fair recompense.” Lysithea mentioned, to Claude’s surprise. He also didn’t know Byleth saved Lorenz at one point during their mission together. Just how much did he miss?

Even so, it looked like Lorenz remained unconvinced. Claude leaned forward to look straight into his eyes. “If it would make you feel better, how about I just take your burner then? There’s no way I can carry a kettle of boiling water to where she lives.”

Lorenz still just glared at him, either formulating a reply or letting his harsh gaze do the talking. Claude stared back just as firmly, and was surprisingly joined by a scoff from Hilda.

“Come on, Lorenz. Just give him the damn burner.”

“Wait, you’re on my side?” Claude blurted out at the same time that Lorenz said, “Hilda, I thought you of all people would be reluctant to share drinkware with a harpy."

“But if you’re going to use your own porcelain, then you, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester,” Hilda jabbed a finger at the aforementioned man, “have no right to get in the way of his date!”

“A date?!” Lorenz sputtered, a fierce blush coloring his pallor cheeks.

“Hilda, someone can have a totally-platonic, not-romantic tea party.” Claude struggled to control the redness of his own face as he spoke. Truthfully, his upcoming teatime with Byleth might not fall into that category, but he didn’t need Lorenz or any of the Golden Deer to start questioning his preferences in partners.

‘Uh-huh. Because I’m sure that’ll happen.” Hilda leaned back and shot him a knowing wink.

“Hmph. If Hilda agrees with you, then it looks like I have no choice but to relent.” Lorenz glanced at Hilda before departing from his office, only to return with a familiar and hefty box moments later. He opened the box on his desk, took out his portable burner, and tucked it into another smaller box more suited for the single item.

“And, like before, you will supply your own teas and treats. Although now that I know who you’re hosting, I have to wonder what kind of flavors a harpy prefers…”

“Thanks, Lorenz. I really appreciate it.” Claude took the box graciously. “And I’ll make sure this gets back to you intact and free of harpy germs.”

Lorenz narrowed his eyes at Claude’s sarcastic tone, but Hilda spoke up before he could. “You know, I still think this isn’t enough. Are you sure there’s nothing else you can give her?”

“I’m sure. The main star of the show is what I can tell Byleth, not the teas or cookies or whatever you’re coming up with. I’m only planning this tea party to set the mood, so they say.” 

Nonetheless, Claude was amused by the twinkling in Hilda’s eyes. It almost made the next words out of her mouth less cringe-inducing. “You know what else can set the mood? A nice bouquet of flowers, some candles, maybe some other food besides the cookies…”

“Hilda, this is just a tea party. Not a dinner.”

“No no. I think she has a point.” The damnable Lorenz chimed in. “It wouldn’t hurt to start your tea party with some flowers. Apology bouquets are a real thing, despite what your lackluster upbringing in etiquette might lead you to believe.”

“Oh no. Not you too.” Claude said in a half-joking manner. He quickly glanced at Lysithea to see if she would either offer her aid or only fuel the fire. She went for neither of those options, and just immersed herself in her papers with a smug grin on her face.

Hilda wore a similar mischievous smile on her face. “Really, Claude, we’re only trying to make sure you don’t screw it up. Again. Who knows if Byleth will give you another shot?”

Claude’s first instincts were to still worm his way out of this conversation, but he stopped himself from doing just that. The fact that Hilda, Lorenz, and even Lysithea were hounding him over something so inane was a sign that the rift between them was shrinking. After their big argument, the ongoing chatter and laughter was soothing, to say the least. He didn’t want to get rid of all this attention just because they were reforging their bonds over something unexpected.

He smiled, sincerely this time, as he spoke. “Heh. I guess you’ve convinced me, but I still don’t want to go overboard, ok? With that in mind, let’s hear what you got to say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had some difficulties balancing between what's realistic and what's satisfying, and what's in-character and what concessions needed to be made to keep the plot moving. If anything seemed off, bear in mind that this isn't the end by any means. There will be more conversations later. I just needed people to be on speaking terms so the story can go on. Still, I'd love to hear any thoughts you guys might have. Here are some thoughts of my own in case I need to clear things up:
> 
> Hilda's section was tough because her apology definitely isn't perfect. She was really only apologizing because Claude is 'a good Almyran', not necessarily because she changed her mind on Almyrans in general. IMO, doing a 180 so quickly, with little push, would be unrealistic. But this kind of apology felt IC for Hilda, based on her A-support with Cyril, so that's what I settled on. As much as I would like Claude to really dig into her, I didn't want to drag the chapter on even more or derail the story too much. Like I said before, Hilda's racism will continue to be addressed, and hopefully she'll get better...?
> 
> Lorenz's and Lysithea's conversation were left a bit open-ended for similar reasons. I thought that if I resolved them now, they would have gotten over their concerns much too soon. But speaking of Lorenz, he has similar issues like Hilda in that he doesn't hold Almyrans and harpies in high regards. I kinda focused on a different angle for the sake of not being repetitive, so his racism isn't talked about directly, but it will come up again later. Hopefully, like Hilda, he can undergo some positive character growth. 
> 
> And then there's Claude. I didn't want him to get off completely scotch-free, since his actions aren't 100% innocent, but previous comments made me realize that maybe I was too hard on him earlier? So I had other characters do some reflection off-screen to make things easier for him. He could've also called out people more in this chapter, but besides the word count and derailment issue, Claude has a high tolerance for bs and he isn't talking to random racists off the street. He's talking to people he has known for six years, and he wants to keep them close. He doesn't want to burn bridges over one argument, because if he can't change the minds of his friends, how is he going to achieve his dreams of a more open world? If I had known that this was going to be a big issue, I would have written more scenes with Claude and the Golden Deer to showcase their bonds further, but alas. I also want to mention that Claude is aware that Hilda and Lorenz have work ahead of them, which is why he teases them about it, but so far he's cautiously optimistic. Especially since Hilda apologized to Claude. If he didn't think they would get better, he wouldn't have listened to them like he did.
> 
> As for Ignatz, Marianne, Raphael, and Leonie, they're a bunch of cinnamon buns that I don't have much to say about. I guess my only concern was not making Ignatz too submissive, and not being too understanding to the point of being omnipotent?
> 
> Anyway, the next chapter will involve Byleth, as you can probably tell. It unfortunately still needs a bit of work, and I would like to pre-write more chapters before I start updating regularly again, so there might be more delays in posting. Sorry about that! If you managed to make it through this monster of a chapter and my ramblings, thank you for sticking with me!


	29. A Second Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth and Sothis gets an overdue explanation from Claude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also know as the chapter where Claude Spouts Conspiracy Theories for Almost 10k Words. No it isn't just that, but it kinda felt like it lmao. Anyway this is a long time coming, so I hope you enjoy! :3c

Byleth wasn’t sure what to believe in anymore.

To her, Claude was someone she could always rely on, a solid anchor that could tether her to the world when her nebulous past and her own inexperience couldn’t do so. Sure, he was a little shifty, thanks to the numerous secrets that he held close to his heart, but all in all, Byleth still thought she could place her trust in him.

That was before he got captured by Those Who Slither in the Dark and got rescued by the Golden Deer and Byleth. That was before she learned that her human friend was dead, before she healed Claude with her own blood, and before her hair and eyes changed color as a result of her spell. Ever since then, Byleth’s world has been shaken to its very core, her beliefs shattered, and not even the knowledgeable and charming Claude could steady them. In fact, his unravelling lies were the biggest reason why everything moved at such a dizzying pace.

Claude had feathers! Harpy feathers! She was at first inclined to believe that he grew them as a side effect to her blood transfer spell, but no. He had them when she first found him in that dark dungeon, surrounded by crushed pinfeathers and pools of his own blood. From there, it was easy to work out what else was a lie. Byleth was not the first harpy Claude met. He knew exactly what he was doing when he healed her broken wing, preened her feathers, and helped her fly again. Furthermore, he did all this while fighting and capturing harpies, without Byleth ever the wiser. 

As Claude slept his near-death experience away, Byleth was of course relieved that he was still alive, but she also couldn’t stop herself from wondering why he hid all of this. Sothis hypothesized that he had to conceal this part of himself because humans would hurt him, or even try to kill him, if they knew. Byleth agreed with her sound logic, but she was also proven wrong with how the Golden Deer didn't turn on him immediately. They whispered among themselves and eyed Claude warily, but they didn't move to harm him. Not yet anyway.

Other intrusive thoughts crept into Byleth's mind as the days passed. Maybe he was also using her for some nefarious purpose, grooming her to become a complacent pawn in his schemes. Maybe there were other things he hid from her, things that would cause her to fly away in a heartbeat if she found them out. A whole storm of maybes swirled around in Byleth’s head, and all she could do to weather them was to sit next to Claude and be patient. He would explain everything eventually. He had no other choice, now that his secrets were out in the open. Just like how Byleth had no choice but to hear him out. There wasn’t anyone else she could rely on anymore, now that her human friend was gone from this world.

Except Claude still didn't give much of his much-owed explanations. Byleth was only able to coax bits and pieces of the answers she so desperately wanted out of him, and those partial answers didn’t assuage her worst fears. In fact, they might have made them worse.

Claude was half-harpy. He admitted to lying about many things, out of fear for his safety. He never fully trusted Byleth, and might not even trust her still. He was using her for a purpose that he couldn’t explain yet. And he did more than capture a harpy behind her back. He pretended to be one of those dark mages and hurt one of the Golden Deer while breaking out said harpy from a prisoner convoy. Granted, he was deeply apologetic about it, but apologies alone couldn’t dispel everyone's doubts. What disturbed Byleth more was how he didn’t even try to comfort his friends and bring them back to his side. He just let them walk away, one by one. It was as if he knew that all the rebukes and emotional outbursts directed towards were right. He used them, lied to them, and never trusted them for as long as he had known them.

In the end, Byleth had to step away too. A part of her still wanted to wait for the explanation that Claude thought would magically fix everything, but a part of her told her not to get her hopes up anymore. If she continued to stick close to him, he might use her and hurt her more than he already has. 

And yet, it also pained Byleth to turn her back to Claude. Despite everything that he did and didn’t do, she ended up spending much of that day observing him from a distance, on a tree branch outside his window. When he still didn’t show any inclination to explain himself, she took off in the skies above the Ordelian villa, mostly to catch a meal but also to sort out her thoughts. 

Yes, she supposed that despite everything, some of her fondness towards Claude remained. She wanted to reconcile, if only so she could enjoy his presence like she used to. The lingering memory of the big hug she gave him when he awakened acted as proof of that. For a moment, Byleth wondered if it was alright to feel like this, if Claude had successfully manipulated her so she couldn’t break away even if she wanted to, but she eventually chased that thought out of her head. If he really wanted her to stay, he wouldn’t have let her go so easily.

If only Claude would hurry up and explain himself. Byleth considered flying down and talking to him, but Sothis said it wasn’t a good idea to reconvene so quickly. The ghostly girl in her head, who might also be an Almyran spirit, proclaimed that Claude needed to approach Byleth, not the other way around, in order to have his thoughts in order during their second talk. Byleth didn’t entirely agree with Sothis, but her judgement was usually sound, so she did what she suggested. She ended up only speaking to Claude once, and indirectly, by asking Sothis to relay a message during the trip back home. When Sothis came back from that exchange, she told Byleth that Claude also promised to talk to her tomorrow, which both soothed and agitated her nerves. She wondered why Claude was taking so long to come up with his overdue explanation. Yet at the same time, she understood that he had a lot to discuss, and she didn’t envy the precarious position he was in. If this purpose that he spoke of ended up being a cruel one that she couldn’t abide by, Byleth wasn’t sure if she could forgive him.

Later that night, her mind was consumed by the best and worst situations that could happen the next day. She couldn’t sleep her anxieties away, not even when she pulled a blanket over her head. It took a gentle lullaby from Sothis to coax her into a dreamless slumber, and apparently more than that. When she woke up, her mind was clear of dark thoughts and she could breath easily again. She was ready for whatever Claude had prepared.

Except considering what he brought with him, maybe she wasn’t entirely ready. A loud rapping on the door urged her to open it up and come face-to-face with the man himself. This morning, he wore a brown plaid cap with flaps dangling over his ears, but what drew her attention more was a box of some sort in one hand and a bouquet of red roses in the other.

“Roses? Really?” Sothis spoke before Claude could explain himself. She raised an eyebrow in tandem with Byleth's own wordless confusion. A peculiar look from Claude reminded both of them that he could hear the outspoken phantom, and thus she should be more careful with what she said.

That look was soon replaced with a more sheepish expression. “Yeah. These are for you.” Claude hurriedly said as he thrusted the flowers into Byleth’s wings.

She wasn’t entirely sure what to do with them, but she accepted them graciously. They smelled nice, at the very least. Was she supposed to eat them? Claude, being half-harpy himself, should know very well that harpies couldn’t eat flowers. Byleth glanced to the side to silently ask Sothis for her opinion, to which she scoffed.

“No, you can’t eat them. A bouquet of roses given from a man to a woman can only mean one thing, which is-”

“An apology.” Claude interrupted Sothis. "I want to say that I'm sorry, and more than that. Which is why I also brought tea."

"Tea? Why?" Byleth blurted out.

“I told you I was going to host another tea party for you when my mission was over. This… may not be the kind of tea party you were hoping for, but I still want to keep my promise from back then. Besides, a tea party is the perfect time to share juicy gossip with one another, although I guess I'm the only one spilling anything today.”

Byleth could certainly say that she didn’t expect a tea party when he said he was going to talk with her tomorrow, but she didn’t not appreciate it. Even if what he had to say turned out unpleasant, at least she would get to enjoy some more tea and sweets. With that in mind, she wordlessly allowed Claude into her cabin. She placed the roses aside as Claude set up the table, noting a stark difference in mood from last time. Before, she was brimming with anticipation over the new flavors and experiences in store for her. Now, Byleth was just concerned with their upcoming discussion, and couldn’t do or say much of anything to ease the tension between them.

Claude, sensing the same thing as Byleth, tried to inject some levity into the room anyway. “Say, where is your crow friend?”

“He doesn’t visit all the time.” Byleth told him. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen Cawde since the first tea party. She hoped he was doing alright.

“Ah. Just as well. What I’m about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone else, not even to him. Do you understand?”

Byleth nodded. Her curiosity flared up once more, but she reigned those emotions quickly enough. She watched with a hawkish gaze as Claude pulled various items out of his box, some of which were familiar but some of which weren’t. In particular, these handleless, glass cups were dyed red, accented with gold flourishes, and shaped a bit like tulips. They were very different from the white and gold porcelain cups with delicate handles from the previous tea party. One of the cups, which Claude gave to himself, was also chipped along its edge. 

“What kind of tea do you want this time?” Claude presented her with the tins of teas again. “I still have Almyran pine needle tea if you’d like that.”

Byleth glanced over all the teas besides Almyran pine needle tea. To be honest, she did enjoy its taste, but not only did she want to sample something new, she also wanted to keep Claude on edge by not indulging in his favorite tea. But when she picked out another tea that caught her interest last time, Claude didn’t show any signs that he was upset. 

“Chamomile, huh?” He shot her an amused look. “I like this tea quite a bit too. It has a milder and more herbal flavor than Almyran pine needle though. Are you ok with that?”

“It’s fine.” Byleth replied. On that note, Claude lit up the burner, the same one as before she realized, with a quick fire spell. As she watched the flickering flames, she suddenly realized that maybe Claude had learned that fire spell from her for the sole purpose of setting the Almyran prisoner convoy aflame. It was just another lie, another way that he used her, yet she fought down the urge to mention it. She could tell that he already had a lot on his mind with the sorrowful expression on his face.

“Byleth, I’m sorry.” He began. His verdant gaze shifted from the burner to the harpy across the table. “I know it was unfair of me to keep you in the dark for so long, but I couldn’t think of how to say what I wanted to say. Six years of lying, hiding secrets, and fearing for your life will do that to someone.”

He let out a chuckle deprived of any joy. Byleth remained unamused. Sothis fidgeted next to her, obviously wanting to rebuke Claude for dragging this out even further, but couldn’t do so without making matters worse.

“But now I’m ready. As ready as I’ll ever be, anyway.”

His fingers crept up the side of his head, freezing when they touched his ears. Byleth knew what he was about to do, but only stared at him with her usual stoic expression. Claude caught her emotionless eyes, and she feared for a moment that he would lose his courage. But to her surprise, he inhaled as he grabbed his hat and yanked it off, displaying twin crests of umber feathers that rose high above his hairline.

“I figured I should start from the beginning.” Claude told her with an unwavering gaze. “My name isn’t just Claude von Riegan. In Almyra, I’m known as Prince Khalid al’Simorq, the son of King Anzu al’Simorq and Queen Tiana von Riegan.”

Byleth’s tongue fell limp in her mouth. She should have known that something as Fodlanese-sounding as Claude wasn’t his real name, but she had no way of knowing he was a prince. Or that his harpy father was also the king of Almyra. Instead of answering her questions, this news only raised many more questions. She remained motionless and utterly flabbergasted, which caused Claude to look at her with concern. 

Sothis, however, had much to say about this reveal, and broke the awkward silence with her raucous cries. “You’re a prince of Almyra?! Why in the world are you in Fodlan then?! Are you a masochist that wanted to suffer through self-inflicted torture?!”

“Now that is a long story.” He replied, all of his earlier vulnerability vanishing in an instant. “Before I get into that, I should get this tea started.”

He scooped some chamomile buds into a teapot, then poured hot water inside to let it steep. Byleth’s brain finally started working enough to process what he just told her. From how he phrased himself, it sounded like Claude was a different kind of person than Khalid. Did this mean that she never really knew the real Claude at all, or was Claude just as real, or perhaps more real than Khalid?

She didn’t know how to spring that loaded question on him, so she decided to ask something simpler. “Do you want me to call you Claude or Khalid?”

He paused, obviously ruminating over his answer. “When you’re around others, you should keep using Claude. It’s dangerous to let everyone else know that an enemy prince is living among them. When it’s just the two, er, three of us though, you can call me either or. It might take some time getting used to hearing Khalid from you, but I’ll answer it all the same.”

Byleth took a moment to think about what he just said, then nodded. “I think I will stick with just Claude then. To make things easier.”

“That’s fine.” Claude said before flashing her a quick smile. “Thank you.”

His smile quelled all further questions from Byleth for now. Sothis noticed how at ease she suddenly looked, and appeared as if she wanted to berate her for falling for Claude’s charm so easily but couldn’t do so without drawing attention to herself. It was just as well that she didn’t start any arguments, as Claude poured the finished chamomile tea into the glass cups and handed one to Byleth. She didn’t drink from it right away, but the steam billowing upwards had a pleasantly mellow aroma.

Claude also hesitated in drinking his tea, but for different reasons. “So, the reason why I came to Fodlan... I should explain that being a prince of Almyra doesn’t automatically make my life great. In fact, it kinda had the opposite effect. There were so many people that thought my mother ‘bewitched’ their beloved king with her ‘accursed Fodlanese powers’, the same powers that allowed her to nab the title of Queen and safely give birth to a ‘hideous, half-breed child’. I imagine that I wouldn’t have been the center of so much attention if I wasn’t my father’s favorite son.”

“Hideous?” Byleth blinked. She couldn’t see how he was ugly in the slightest.

“Their words, not mine.” Claude smirked. “I don’t know if you know this already, but any baby from a union between a male harpy and a female human usually doesn't survive to term. It’s safe to say that my birth was a miracle, and there might be no one else like me in the world.”

He flicked the feathers behind his ears for emphasis. Byleth of course knew none of this, thanks to her lackluster knowledge of the world. Personally, she found his feathers quite handsome, and she was upset that Claude’s homeland tormented him because of them.

“Anyway, there were a lot of assassination attempts on our lives, and those who weren’t bold enough to resort to blades or poisons instead turned to vicious words. I’ll… spare you the more gruesome details, but these incidents taught me how cruel people can be towards someone of two different worlds. And yet, I wasn’t going to just pick a side to avoid conflict. I never thought of myself as a human with harpy feathers, or an Almyran with a Fodlanese mother, or vice versa. I was me, and I was going to find a way to get everyone to accept that. 

“And why stop with just me? If I could make Almyra and Fodlan and humans and harpies to get along with each other, the world would be a much kinder place for everyone. We wouldn’t have so much war and bloodshed, no more trampled nests, senseless deaths, and children who have witnessed too much…”

Claude's eyes gained a wistful sort of quality that nonetheless burned with an inner fire. Byleth recognized it as the same look from long ago, when he first told Byleth about the fate of Fodlan’s harpy flocks and his goal on changing people’s perspectives for the better. If he expressed such dreams from the very beginning, he probably wasn’t lying about it. This ambitious side of him was part of his true self, a part that she was glad to see.

He took a sip of his cooled tea, prompting Byleth to do the same. A smooth mouthfeel, tasting vaguely of flowers, washed over her senses. Despite the heavy conversation taking place, the tea relaxed her tense muscles and calmed her pounding heart into a steady beat. She decided that she liked this tea.

Claude caught the faint smile on her face, and responded with his own small smile before continuing on. “Now, you’re probably wondering how I plan to do all that. The quickest and easiest way to peace would be to lay my claim on the Almyran throne. But not only do I have one older half-brother and three older half-sisters to contend with, the right to rule doesn’t solely fall on lineage. Potential heirs must pass through a series of trials to become a Barbarossa, and then challenge the current leader to a one-on-one duel. The Barbarossa trials are already difficult enough for someone without wings, but even if I managed to pass them all, I knew that my dreams would come crashing down the moment I faced my father. He is a formidable warrior, with more years of combat than I have years of living. I would be soundly defeated no matter if I tried to beat him fairly or with the help of poisons and other unconventional tricks.”

“You considered poisoning your father?” Byleth asked incredulously. She wouldn’t have believed him if he mentioned that earlier, but now that she heard that Claude had also not-on-purpose hurt Ignatz to free the Almyran prisoners…

“I wasn’t seriously considering it.” Claude waved away her concern. “My old man probably wouldn't even be phased by them, and it would just give him more reason to win the duel. But the one thing I did actually consider sounded even more far-fetched. Despite my skepticism towards the spirits of Almyra, I thought of them, or more specifically, one of their legends, and figured out the solution to my problem.”

Sothis perked up at his words and leaned forward. This must be something that Claude hinted at during his dream-conversation with her. Byleth was sound asleep during it, but she paid close attention anyway, in order to fill in the gaps of her knowledge.

“Sothis, if you heard something like this before, let me know.” Claude told her, then cleared his throat. 

"Almyra houses 30 kinds of spirits, each one representing a different element. Unlike the Saints and Heroes of Fodlan, the spirits are incorporeal in nature and not always benevolent. They will either aid mortals, cause natural disasters, or do absolutely nothing, all based on their whim. Of course, the people of Almyra try to please them with prayers, offerings, and magical songs called Galdrs, but when it comes to spirits, nothing is absolute. Not even the rule that all spirits are incorporeal. The legend I’m talking about today centers around two spirits that once took physical bodies and flew in the skies of Almyra: Simorq the Golden Spirit and Huma the Silver Spirit.”

“Simorq… and Huma…” Sothis mused out loud. “I feel as if I heard those names before.”

“Well that shouldn’t come as a surprise, seeing as my Almyran family name is al’Simorq.” Claude nodded. “And the spirits of Almyra are said to be like one big family. So if you recognize them, it's probably because you're related to them, in the roughest sense of the word.”

Sothis hummed, obviously lost in thought. Byleth stared at a moment as she took another sip of her tea. It was unusual for Sothis to be the one remembering things about her past, as her identity was far more mysterious than Byleth’s. The never-ending enigma only became more confusing when these foreign legends sparked familiarity for the ghostly girl. 

“But in the case of Simorq and Huma, they were definitely family. Twin sisters, in fact. Their elemental domain wasn’t as well defined as the other spirits, which is perhaps why they wanted to live among mortals, even though Almyra was just a barren wasteland back then. In exchange for the human’s veneration, the two of them granted them the knowledge and power needed to turn the desert into a massive kingdom. Their greatest gifts were Galdrs, taught by Huma, and divine airborne warriors known as harpies, created by Simorq.”

“Simorq created harpies?” Byleth repeated after him.

“In a sense.” Claude shrugged in a non-committed way. “The story behind their creation is actually quite fascinating. According to the legend, Simorq was leading her fiercest warriors to war, because there was always a war in Almyran tales, when one of them sacrificed himself to save her. Touched by his courage, she blessed him with unfathomable power to resurrect him, and changed his shape in the process. His arms became great wings, his legs sharp talons, and he grew golden feathers as brilliant as the sun. This warrior, now the first harpy, was bestowed a new name fitting of his new form: Zal Al’Simorq.”

Byleth was able to stay quiet throughout his retelling, but now she felt the need to speak up something. “You’re saying that… the first harpy was a human?”

“If you believe my tale, then yes. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? Usually there’s a factual basis behind stories, but I can’t think of what real-life event might have kickstarted such a fantastical origin for harpies. What’s weirder is that Simorq and Huma weren’t exactly harpies themselves. Most stories depicted them like that, yes, but a few stories described them as winged humans like Sothis here.”

Claude gave the aforementioned girl a funny look. She wrapped her wings around her slender frame reflexively, as if defending herself from his accusations. 

"If you're asking if all this strikes a chord within me, I'm afraid that I cannot answer that." Sothis piped up after a second of silence. "It doesn't feel familiar to me, but that doesn't mean it isn't true."

"Hm. Oh well." Claude brushed off his disappointment by taking a drink of his tea. "So for a time, the land prospered under Simorq and Huma. Simorq exalted more of her fiercest warriors by changing them into harpies, either to better guard Almyra or maybe to keep Zal company. Thanks to her outgoing personality and divine might, she became the first leader of the newly established kingdom. While Huma, who had always been a bit reclusive, supported her sister in the background with her wisdom and magic. But their hard-won peace wouldn't last forever. Invaders from the west eventually challenged their reign. Another long and bloody war was fought, and at its end, the intruders were driven back across the mountains where they came from.

"Simorq, sensing that this wouldn't be the last time their enemies would attack, wanted to chase after them and eliminate every trace of them. Huma wanted to focus on rebuilding their kingdom and living peaceful lives. The two sisters had a dreadful argument, which would drive them apart forever. Simorq appointed Zal as Almyra's next ruler before flying across the mountains by herself. Huma stayed behind and bade her sister a tearful farewell. 

"After she left, Simorq was never seen again. There's no official fate of the Golden Spirit, although most people think that she fell in battle in the foreign land. Meanwhile, Huma succumbed to her grief and could no longer live in the land she and her sister created. She took to the skies and disappeared among the clouds. Some say she's still flying above Almyra, but will never descend from the heavens until her sister returns from the faraway war."

Throughout Claude's story, Byleth sat still, enraptured by the fanciful tale. From how he spoke with an unwavering voice to how his feathered crests perked up, she never would have never guessed that he was feeling nervous a short while ago. Claude was actually  _ glad _ for the opportunity to tell a story from his homeland, and it wasn’t surprising to see why. The legend of Simorq and Huma touched Byleth in ways that the stories from the Church of the Goddess could not. The sisters' successes felt more triumphant and their parting felt more tragic thanks to Claude's storytelling talents. And, of course, this tale actually included harpies in a positive light. It made Byleth wonder why Claude was so reluctant to mention any of this before, although she didn't want to quash his enthusiasm by saying such a thought out loud.

Sothis, of course, wasn't as hesitant as Byleth with her opinions. "What a grand tale. I still don't feel any familiarity towards it, but I must ask you how this relates to your own trials."

"I'm getting there." Claude replied back right before he wetted his mouth with some tea again. "So as you probably figured out, the nation across from Almyra's western mountains was Fodlan. If Simorq really did exist and really did travel west, surely there must be some accounts of her existence in Fodlan's history. There's no way that a divine bird-woman spirit wouldn't leave a mark. While I was in Almyra, I did as much research as I could with the scarce amount of books on the subjects. I even went as far as to ask my mother for Fodlanese fables. But try as I might, I couldn't find anything definitive about Simorq. During my last Trial of the Barbarossa, the Reclamation Trial, I transversed Fodlan’s Throat to do some more digging and noticed something interesting."

He leaned forward, meeting Sothis’s curious gaze with his own gaze that glowed with excitement. “In comparison to Almyra, Fodlan’s history doesn’t span that far back, and any stories from ancient times are often rift with inconsistencies and errors. That could be chalked up to efforts to scrub history clean of anything that went against the modern church’s teachings. The earliest tales that I did manage to find were of the Goddess and her chosen ones. Which, from what I could tell, came into existence  _ after _ Simorq supposedly flew to Fodlan. And to stir the pot even more, the first records of harpies were written after Simorq’s departure too. Do you see what I’m getting at?”

His green eyes sparkled as he awaited Byleth’s and Sothis’s answers. Honestly, Byleth felt a little wary about voicing what Claude was hinting at out loud. It was such an outlandish theory, and she didn’t find herself believing it wholeheartedly, especially when she didn’t know much about the Goddess and even less about Simorq in the first place.

So Sothis again spoke in her stead. “You think that the Goddess of Fodlan is actually Simorq the Golden Spirit, and she blessed her Heroes, Apostles, and Saints much the same way as she blessed Zal. Which is to say, she made them into harpies. That’s… quite a leap in logic, mockingbird.”

“It’s not as big of a leap as you think.” Claude replied, sounding no less disillusioned. “The Goddess gave her chosen ones Crests and Heroes’ Relics, and Simorq gave her chosen ones wings. There must be some kind of connection there. And not only that, did you know that some ancient art of the 10 Heroes had feathered wings? A while ago you found an old statue of my ancestor, Riegan, and noticed that it once had a pair of wings on its back.”

Byleth nodded, She remembered that statue clearly, mostly because of the chance meeting she had of its painter. “What happened to the statue’s wings?”

“My uncle broke them off, but that’s besides the point.” The slight hurt in Claude’s voice indicated that it maybe was the point, but he continued on regardless. “What I’m trying to say is that, despite history’s best efforts to erase them, the Goddess’s chosen ones must have had wings at some point. I doubt that the artists of yore slapped them on there for fun. But since I haven’t found any works depicting them as harpies, either Simorq blessed her Fodlan entourage differently than her Almyran entourage, or the passage of time warped them to forms more eye-pleasing to humans. You get what I’m getting at, right?”

She didn’t know how to respond to his wild theory, but she didn’t want to disappoint him, so she just nodded again. It blew her mind to think that the religion of Fodlan might have started by a spirit from Almyra, especially when she was still trying to come to terms with the idea that harpies were once human. Byleth also didn’t see how all these legends would help him claim the throne, despite Claude’s insistence that they did. He would have to believe that they were true in the first place, which clashed with earlier admittance to not being a follower of the Church of the Goddess. All of this was terribly confusing, yet if this was what Claude wanted to tell her for so long, she had to keep listening.

Claude’s words became fervent as he rambled on and on. “Just imagine if people knew that Almyra and Fodlan had a shared history, that their deity was the same being. Imagine if people knew that harpies and humans are more closely related than they thought. I mean, it might not go well at first, but eventually they’ll realize that they have less of a reason to fight each other. The gap between heaven and earth, harpies and humans, might finally diminish into a single world. The kind of world where we can harmoniously live together sounds nice, doesn’t it? And it would be a world where Simorq once gave wings to people. Not that it’s an essential part of my plans or anything, but it would be pretty amazing...”

Byleth could definitely agree with that. A world where humans and harpies and people in between could co-exist, without fear of any sorts, was a lovely idea. And if Claude was right, not only did such a world exist at some point, he had every intention of bringing it back. If this was his main motivation for all his lies and scheming, Byleth wasn’t sure if she could be as mad at him.

Yet, something was still off. She couldn’t put a talon on it, but Sothis vocalized it more eloquently than she could. “So, to make sure we’re on the same page, you came to Fodlan to find out the truth behind Simorq and the Goddess, and use her power to build the world of your dreams.”

Claude flinched by an almost imperceivable amount. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of silly doesn’t it? But I’m not that naive. If my truth-seeking didn’t pan out, I would’ve used the other half of my heritage to climb the ranks of the Alliance and exact change that way.”

Sothis may have nodded, but her expression remained unchanged, a sign that she wasn’t convinced. “And what about defeating your father to claim the Almyran throne? Did you give up on that notion so easily?”

He flinched again. His head feathers stood straight up, as if they sensed danger. Sothis didn’t give him the chance to come up with more excuses. “Do you know what I think? I think a man like you wouldn’t risk so much on a theory as patchy as a molting harpy. It isn’t just your ambitions that drives you, but also desperation. You want Simorq’s power for another, more personal reason than you already stated.”

“Sothis?” Byleth shot her a surprised glance. She didn’t understand what was fueling these accusatory rants, although now she thought about it more, she was beginning to form a vague idea.

“What could be more personal than the desire to unite the homelands of my parents?” Claude asked with a fake smile on his face.

“What could be more personal indeed? Perhaps the desire for wings?”

Claude halted in his tracks. He stayed quiet for a brief moment before he worked up the courage to speak again, in a softer voice. “... Yeah. You caught me. I know it sounds like a childish dream. I would be perfectly happy to fulfill my goals through saner methods. But if it’s at all possible… I would rather have wings.”

The rest of his nervous ramblings paled in comparison to the one word Byleth focused on: 

Wings. 

Claude wanted wings. Byleth had always thought of him as self-assured, always looking ahead rather than himself. Then again, Byleth didn’t know he had another name until recently. Still, she couldn’t wrap her head around why he wanted wings. She couldn’t even picture how he would look with either harpy wings or wings on his back. Then again, Sothis did mention that he was acting out of desperation...

What sort of desperation? Against her better judgement, Byleth asked, “Why wings?”

Claude looked taken back for a second. The way his feathers shrank back added to his surprise. He rubbed the finger against the rim of his cup as he tried to articulate his many feelings on the matter. 

“It’s… hard to explain. But you of all people should know how important it is to fly. Especially when you broke your wing and remained landbound for a while.”

Like before, she only partially understood him. When Byleth responded with a curious tilt of her head, Claude sighed. He lifted his cup of tea to his mouth and drank a long gulp before setting it back on the saucer.

“Let me put it this way. The sky is like a second home to you, right? It’s where you hunt, commune, and stay far out of danger’s reach. When something attacks you, your first instinct is to fly away. When you’re in a tight space, with a low ceiling overhead, you worry about how you’re going to fly out of there. And when you’re finally in flight, you feel like everything is right in the world. Now, imagine that you can’t. Imagine that you're stuck on the ground, unable to answer the call from above. 

"And then, to compound your helplessness, imagine that everyone around you  _ can _ and  _ will _ fly away, leaving you behind. The only way you can catch up to them is to use someone else’s wings. Imagine that, when you do finally fly alongside them, everyone thinks you're a wing thief, a vulture, a half-breed kid that’ll forever be useless, that’ll never accomplish anything in life because he can’t-”

Claude choked on his words. He broke eye contact from Byleth to press a hand over his face. He didn’t say anything, but Byleth could see that his head feathers had sunk so low, they were practically buried in his dark hair. As he breathed, she heard a tremble that made him sound like he was on the verge of breaking down.

“Claude…” She whispered as she placed her right wing talons on the table. “Are you alright?”

He inhaled deeply and stayed quiet for a few more seconds. Without pulling his hand away, he said, “I’m ok. Just give me a minute.” 

The chatter between the three of them had died down to a hush. Byleth felt like she finally understood Claude, and not just because of what he said. His vulnerable appearance and the raw emotion in his voice rattled Byleth in ways she didn't think was possible. At this moment, Claude wasn't the leader of the Golden Deer, nor a prince of Almyra. He was someone cursed with an innate longing that was supposed to only be found in beings of the sky, an instinct that Byleth took for granted, an intense yearning that he couldn't fulfill on his own. And to make matters worse, the endless torment of his childhood not only taught him that he would never belong, it reminded him that he would never feel complete.

No wonder Claude delayed his confession for as long as he could. Stripped of his usual snarky confidence and nonchalant facade, he seemed like a completely different person. And he couldn't be that person in front of anyone else, given everything that happened recently. The fact that he chose to reveal this side of himself to Byleth meant more than he could ever say out loud.

"Claude." Byleth said his name again, this time a degree louder than a whisper. "I'm… sorry for bringing up bad memories."

Claude lifted his head out of his palm upon hearing her gentle voice. His hand went from his face to her wing talons on the table. She didn't flinch from the sudden warmth.

“No. It’s alright. I’m alright.” He sounded more chipper already. “After living on this earth for so long, I got a pretty good handle on the poor hand life had dealt me. It’s just… I don’t like to talk about it that much. The question is if you’re alright? This is turning out to be a pretty crummy apology, what with my sob story and all that.”

For reasons unknown, Byleth curled her talons around Claude’s fingers. Perhaps as reassurance of sorts? “I’m alright. I can tell this is hard for you… But I truly appreciate it. I don’t need to hear anything else if you can’t say it.”

“Really?” A corner of Claude’s lips quirked upwards. “I haven’t even finished my story yet, although there isn’t much left to tell.”

“What do you have left?”

Claude pulled his hand away from Byleth to sip his tea. “Well, you can probably guess why I readily latched onto the myths of Simorq and Huma when I was a child. They were something in between harpy and human, like me, and yet were revered by the people of Almyra anyway. And learning how Simorq turned a human into a harpy only drew me in further. I never got those stories out of my head, not even when I grew older and undertook the Trials of the Barbarossa. In fact, when the daunting prospect of fighting my father grew closer, I immediately thought of how wings of my own would lead to my success. And so, for my Reclamation Trial, I sought to reclaim the truth behind Almyra and Fodlan.

“The problem is, my original research hasn’t progressed much, even when I gain access to House Riegan’s library and then some. There were scant few texts that covered ancient Fodlan history, and whatever I found was rarely helpful. After I graduated from the Leicester Alliance Officer’s Academy, I went on a sabbatical of sorts all across Fodlan to try and gather some hard evidence. It was during that time I visited Mount Zanado, the mountain where you and Sothis visit in your dreams. And like I told Sothis earlier, I found nothing at its peak. No throne of stone, nothing. I considered giving up on this childish endeavor and focusing my attention on the Golden Deer, but then, out of the blue, you two dropped into my life.”

Byleth thought he would sound happy about their fateful meeting, but he had a strangely pensive look on his face instead. While she tried to decipher his expression, Sothis had already figured him out.

“You were interested in Byleth because of me, a winged human living in her head. You thought that by growing close to her, you could find the answers you’ve been searching for your life.”

“As much as I hate to admit, you’re right.” Claude refused to meet Sothis’s piercing and criticizing gaze. His green eyes instead turned to Byleth. “At first, I really did take you in so that I could help heal your broken wing. It was the least I could do for someone who saved my life. But when you revealed Sothis to me, I felt like I could get out of the rut I’ve been stuck in for many years. Except I couldn’t tell you about my… unique predicament. I feared that if you knew I was half-harpy, you would label me as a freak like so many others. And if you knew what I was after, you would torment me for harboring foolish dreams. So I pretended to be just a normal human with some interest in harpies. I asked questions, indulged you, and occasionally revealed some cards in my hand, all for the sake of piecing together the truth within my reach.”

Byleth’s blood ran cold at Claude’s admission, but it didn’t freeze over completely. The regret in his voice stopped her from closing herself off to him. She could believe his words, its many implications, and the unspoken repentance throughout, but she was left with one nagging thought…

“So when you asked me to sing the song of fire to you, were you just using me?”

“I-” Claude started to say, then shook his head. “I was. Yeah. Honestly, your singing is beautiful, and I could listen to you all day without any ulterior motive, but I initially asked you about it to improve my plans for the Almyran prisoners’ breakout. I’m sorry.”

She suspected as much, but hearing it straight from Claude’s mouth still stung. “And were you using me during my bath too?” She asked unapologetically.

“Huh?” Claude blurted out, only to blush when he realized what she was talking about. “Oh. No! That was one of the few times I didn’t have my goal in mind! I really did think you needed a good wash. Everything that happened that night was just a really weird series of coincidences. Well, actually...” 

He looked away for a moment. “Back then, I recognized the symbol on your chest. It’s the same symbol that adorns the robes of Almyran shamans and sirens in service to the Spirit of Time’s Flow. To confirm my suspicion, I hummed the Time Flow’s Galdr to you, and you blew my expectations away when you sang it back. I had to basically rethink what I thought I knew about Simorq and the Goddess.”

Byleth wasn’t sure how to feel about this latest bit of news. On one talon, she didn’t appreciate being used in such a way during what she originally thought as a nice moment between them. On the other talon, she was curious about how Claude fitted Sothis and all her mysteries into his already-crazy theories. 

“So? What did you rethink?” Sothis chimed in before Byleth could say anything.

“Initially, I thought that Sothis was someone blessed by Simorq, who then got stuck in your head somehow. But when I identified you as the Spirit of Time’s Flow, I wondered if all Almyran spirits were winged humans like you. If that was the case, then why are Simorq and Huma the only spirits recorded to have appeared in such a form? And then, once I discovered your connection to Mount Zanado, I wonder if I've been barking up the wrong tree this entire time. Maybe you, Sothis, were the one that flew from Almyra to Fodlan and started the religion of the Goddess. After all, one of the oldest books of Fodlan's history I own did say that the Goddess's name is Sothis. But that still doesn’t explain how Crests came into the equation, nor what happened to Simorq after she left Almyra…”

Claude fell silent, eagerly awaiting Sothis's response. She studied him without saying anything, although her wide eyes showed that she had a lot on her mind.

"I… think I remember something about her." She finally proclaimed. "Yes, I’m fairly certain. Simorq had a pair of feathered crests behind her ears, much like yours, only they were a solid gold color instead of brown. And, like you said, she was headstrong and free-spirited, to the point of feistiness. I seem to recall a heated argument I had with her, although I don’t remember what it was about...”

“Huh. She really did exist.” Claude breathed out, as if he could scarcely believe it. “Or my story is giving you some delusions. Either or.”

“Do you really have that little faith in me?!” Sothis pouted. “My memories may be shrouded in a haze, but I am positively sure of what little I can garner!"

Byleth, sensing a brewing argument, butted in with a question that popped into her head. “Claude, if you have the same feathered crests as Simorq, does that mean you’re related to her?”

“What, you couldn’t tell from my Almyran name?” Claude laughed. “Technically, all Almyran harpies descended from Simorq, but only the Golden Spirit herself and the first ruler of Almyra, Zal al’Simorq, had these feathered crests. Our family claims a direct connection to him, although I always thought that claim was just fluff until now.”

He punctuated his answer with a look towards Sothis. “You wouldn’t have any other thoughts about the rest of my theory, would you?”

“Are you speaking of the part where I may be the goddess of Fodlan?” She shot him a wide-eyed stare back. “That era of my past still eludes me… But I feel like there's some truth to your hypothesis, as well as some misunderstandings…”

Claude leaned forward a bit. "So, you're saying that you don't have the power to give me wings?"

Sothis shook her head. "Not right now, no. But that isn't to say such a feat isn't impossible."

Claude looked slightly crestfallen for a second before he wiped away his disappointment with a smile. “That's true. I suppose I was asking too much from you too soon. But we’re actually getting off-track, if you can believe it. I have something more important to say."

He turned back to her, a frown on his lips as he inhaled. “Byleth… and Sothis... I’m sorry for taking advantage of you. I should have been open from the beginning. To be fair, I did eventually plan to tell you everything, when I was ready, but I moved too slowly and, well, you know the rest.”

He gestured towards himself, then at the space between them. When Byleth said nothing in return, he kept going. “As hurtful as it is, I didn’t really trust you all that much until recently. I was so afraid that you would reject me like so many others, I bottled everything up and strung you along on my wild goose chase instead. That way, my feelings would be spared when your wing recovered and you flew away, or if some catastrophe like this were to happen. But I was a fool. Closing myself off just enabled me to use you without thinking about how much I was hurting you. Not only that, as the days passed, I enjoyed our time together because I enjoyed your presence. I slowly realized that I didn't need to get any answers from you. Just being… friends was enough for me.

"Except, if I was a real friend, I wouldn’t have lied in your face and kept you in the dark about so many things. I would have realized that you’re a much better person than I am, and I had no reason to let my paranoia control me like it did. Everything you did for me, from saving my life twice to even entertaining the notion of this tea party, showed as much.”

A chuckle from Claude interrupted his own long-winded speech. “Geez, I really am rambling on, aren’t I? Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that… I want there to be nothing between us. I’m done hiding everything from you, not that I have any more secrets left to hide, and I’m done using you like a tool. And now that you know who I am and what I want… Could you find it in your heart to forgive me? Or, if you can’t forgive Claude, could you at least accept Khalid into your life?”

Green eyes stared into cyan ones before flitting down to his cold tea. One thing for certain, his new feathered crests made it easier for Byleth to gauge his feelings. Right now, they were flat against his head, similarly to how deflated they were when he confessed his want of wings. Of course, Claude could be faking how they moved. He was a master of pretending to be someone he wasn't. But when combined with the sincerity of his words and other body language, Byleth was inclined to believe that he meant what he said.

At least, she mostly believed him. “Does Khalid like my singing?” She decided to ask.

He, at first, shot her a strange look, then smiled. “Of course he does. Your voice is unparalleled, in Almyra or otherwise.”

“And will he help me find the rest of my memories? Although my human friend is dead… I would like to remember the life I had with him.”

“Yeah. Actually, there’s a chance that your friend might still be alive. That lady could have been lying to goad you.”

“That would be a nice thought.” Byleth murmured. As much as she would like to ponder about that, there was one more question she needed to ask ‘Khalid’. 

“And would Khalid help me preen my feathers if I asked?”

The man in front of her sputtered, while Sothis next to her let out a short laugh. “You think that preening is more intimate than finding your lost memories?! That is incredibly bold of you, hatchling!”

“Yeah... I also have to question your priorities.” He chimed in with his own laugh. The smile on his face brightened his previously dismal features, a sight that Byleth was glad to see. “But are you sure that you want someone like me to do that for you?”

“Yes. I do.” Byleth nodded. “The way I see it, Claude and Khalid are the one and the same. If I can accept Khalid, I can forgive Claude too.”

Claude’s smile faded by a barely distinguishable amount. “Even after everything I did to you? I haven’t exactly done much to earn your trust.”

“You might think that, but I just listed several reasons why I can trust you. And there are many more reasons beyond those. For example, if you hadn’t taken me in and cared for my broken wing, I wouldn’t even be alive right now. Then, you decided to tell me everything about yourself, from your past to your dreams to your regrets, even though you would be putting your heart on the line and making yourself vulnerable.”

Now it was Claude’s turn to be rendered speechless. Byleth continued on with an unflinching look in her eyes. “I think that… Despite your shadiness, you have good and kind intentions. I understand why you acted the way you did, and how hard it was to explain that to me. I believe you when you say you wouldn’t hide from me or use me anymore… So I will forgive you.”

Those last give words hung in the air, refusing to dissipate so easily. Neither of them looked away from each other, not even with Claude inhaled deeply and leaned back in his seat.

“Thank you, Byleth. For your trust, and your forgiveness. You have no idea how much this means. And I promise that I won’t abuse the faith you’ve placed in me ever again.”

His radiant smile afterwards made the struggle through this whole conversation worthwhile. Byleth, having nothing else to say, smiled as well. Admittedly, she was unused to the gesture, but she was sure she did well with guidance from the shining example across the table.

A quiet cough next to them caused Byleth and Claude to shift their gaze. Sothis sat on the edge of the table, an amused twinkle in her eye softening her otherwise disgruntled expression. 

“As for me, I can find it in myself to forgive you too.” She proclaimed. “With all you’ve been through, it was unreasonable for you to disclose such matters of the heart so readily. Why, I can perhaps even forgive you for delaying your admission after you promised otherwise. The story of Simorq and Huma, and your outlandish theory connecting them to Fodlan’s history, seemed to have unlocked memories I wouldn’t have been able to recover on my own. For that, it was well worth the wait.”

“I’m glad to hear that from you. And not just because you’re proving my theory right.” Claude grinned at her. “You two are probably the first people to not ridicule my dream for wings. More than that, you get how important it is to me. I truly can’t thank you enough.”

Byleth basked in that wonderful sentiment and his equally bright smile while Sothis wore a faint blush on her face. “There’s no need to spout such mushiness. If the tales of the Golden and Silver Spirit brought back some of my past, you must have surmised something correctly. It’s only too bad that we couldn’t achieve much more on that front.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Claude retorted. “Now that there’s nothing between us, I get the feeling that we’re going to be making a lot of progress together in the upcoming days. Not just towards my dreams, but towards the truth behind your past. Speaking of which.”

He turned his attention to Byleth. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. I heard that to heal me, you sang a song and stabbed me in the heart with a feather.”

Byleth faltered, although to her, faltering meant a wordless flinch from his accusation. Her response elicited a chuckle from Claude. “I’m not mad at you! I’m actually grateful that you saved my life. I just wanted to ask what kind of spell was that, and what song you sang. I can usually correlate most of your songs to Almyran Galdrs, but I don’t know of any magic that can save someone from extreme blood loss.”

“I’m… not entirely certain if I understand the spell myself.” Byleth admitted. “I was only following what Sothis told me.”

Sothis pouted when all eyes fell upon her.“Hmph. I don’t fully grasp the meaning behind the spell either. Most of it is, again, shrouded in the mists of my past. But I can say with certainty that the spell’s primary purpose is to transfuse blood. The fact that you were also healed so drastically was just a creative use of its power.”

“I see. But that’s still an interesting tidbit in and of itself. Why would there be a spell just for transfusing blood? Harpy blood, no less?” Claude tapped his fingers on the table, deep in thought. For a fleeting moment, his eyes lit up as if he reached a revelation, but that glimmer quickly faded away.

“So, what about the song then?” He changed the subject. “Do you care to give me an encore?”

“It depends on whether you’ll use it to set another caravan on fire.” Byleth stated as a jest, although with her blank stare, it didn’t go over so well. Claude widened his eyes, only to laugh when he spotted the humorous quirk of her lips.

“Oh, no! I’m done with anything like that! This time, I’m asking out of curiosity. And…” He leaned forward so his apparent eagerness was unmistakable to Byleth. “I also want to hear the voice so wonderful, it can bring me back from the brink of death.”

She hesitated for a second or two before responding with her own short laugh. “When you put it that way, I can’t refuse.”

As Byleth did her best to recall the words and melody of her life-saving song, she gazed deeply into Claude’s verdant eyes. They glowed with anticipation for her performance. Last time she fulfilled a song request from him, he asked her what she placed her faith in. She didn’t mention back then, but the strength of her song was based on Claude and her feelings towards him. And now, even after everything they’ve been through, she still called upon those powerful emotions. The unbreakable bonds that persist through certain death, the patience that kept her aloft during stormy times, and the warm thoughts that now encouraged her to forgive him, hadn’t changed at all. In fact, they only blossomed during this tender moment they shared together.

With this sort of passion building up in her throat, Byleth opened her mouth and sang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a bit of a doozy wasn't it? Here are some more notes because I'm not done rambling yet:
> 
> When coming up with Almyra's religion, I decided to go with a more shamanistic approach because Duscur already practiced polytheism. Only to remember that Brigid worships spirits after I posted chapter 11, when I first mentioned the Almyran spirits. And I think it's hinted in-game that Almyra has a pantheon of gods too. Oops. So in the end, I made the Almyran spirits in this setting a mish-mash of sorts.
> 
> This chapter originally had a VERY different ending but I replaced it because I didn't feel like the timing was right, considering everything Claude and Byleth just went through. What I intended will show up again, just maybe not so soon. You guys will have to suffer a while longer~
> 
> Hopefully weekly updates will resume soon-ish, it's just RL is still kinda busy and this next arc is entirely unplanned. I mean, I'm always winging things, but I'll be winging things a bit more for the next several chapters. Bear with me. :P
> 
> PS: Cawde is fine. Not trying to sound ominous, but he's really ok, just not currently around.


	30. A Black Metal Ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude holds a meeting about their next mission, among other things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while to update! I did not plan to take a 3 week break. The upcoming chapters will probably be shorter and slower plot-wise, because the last few chapters were long and chock-full of stuff and I want to have a bit of a breather. I hope to update more frequently to make up for it!

If these past several days have taught Claude anything, it was to not wait on important matters. As soon as he was on speaking terms with everyone again, he called for a meeting about Those Who Slither in the Dark. 

He made sure to invite every Golden Deer, including Byleth. Although to be perfectly honest, Claude doubted that she would be able to contribute much to this meeting. She wasn't the talkative type, and had little experience with debates. But Byleth apparently had some history with Those Who Slither in the Dark, so she had to be included, if only to stay in the loop. Also, it would be nice to have a staunch ally by his side, even though he didn’t anticipate any heated arguments with his other friends this time. Much to his relief.

Still, he strolled into the meeting room with some trepidation in his steps. All eyes were immediately drawn to the green mage cap he picked out for today. The cone-shaped accessory was supposed to stick straight up, but Claude’s hat must be a defect because it just flopped over the back of his head instead. As long as it hid his feathers and broke the tense atmosphere, he could care less about how he wore it. And as an added bonus, it mostly distracted the Golden Deer from Byleth’s presence. He said mostly, because he noted a few side-eyed stares as she perched in a bird-like fashion on the chair next to him.

“Alright. First things first.” Claude proclaimed in a steady and not-at-all nervous voice. “I trust that everyone here knows to keep not only this meeting a secret, but also the truth about Byleth and I?”

“Of course we’ll keep them a secret.” Ignatz nodded, along with everyone else. Even Lorenz silently concurred with a vague bob of his head.

“Good, because last I heard, someone on this estate worked for Those Who Slither in the Dark and slipped them valuable intel.”

The Golden Deer collectively winced at his accusation. They should have already been aware of that, thanks to the letter they conveniently found in the Slitherers’ base, but maybe it was too harsh on their ears. Claude cracked a smile to assuage them. “Don’t worry, I don’t think they’re any of you guys. But this mole is involved enough with our activities to know what happened during the prisoner transfer, and exactly when Lysithea, Ignatz, and I were heading to Alban.”

“That doesn’t narrow the list of suspects by much.” Leonie pointed out. “And it doesn’t have to be someone that helps us directly. News of some of our more exciting missions always spread around the estate like wildfire.”

“Uh, do you think that they know that we know of them?” Marianne piped up, her voice full of concern and confusion.

“Now that is a good question.” Claude looked at her. “That letter was too convenient to be an accident, so the mole must know that if I made it back alive, there’s a good chance that we know about them. I figured that they would high-tail it out of here at the first opportunity to avoid getting caught. But I talked to my steward recently, and he told me that no one’s left their job ever since we came back.”

Raphael raised a hand. “Why do you think that the letter was convenient?”

“Because do you really think that the same people who planned a trap for me at Alban would so carelessly reveal a spy at our base?” Claude replied as gently as possible. “I think that they left that letter out on purpose, to split us apart. It’s a good thing that didn’t happen, eh?”

He glanced at the people seated around him. Thankfully, they agreed with his sentiment, but showed it in varying degrees. Ignatz, Raphael, Leonie, and Hilda showed their full support by murmuring and nodding vigorously. Marianne’s concurrence was more subdued thanks to her quieter nature. Then there was Lorenz and Lysithea, who fidgeted in their seats and casted furtive glances around the room before eventually nodding alongside the others.

Lorenz quickly brushed his discomfort aside to speak up. “Could it be possible that the mole doesn’t know about the letter? Or the letter wasn’t left out intentionally? We may be giving Those Who Slither in the Dark too much credit.”

“Yeah! For all their slitheriness, they don’t strike me as the kind of guys who would make backup plans in case they failed.” Hilda interjected. “They’re much too arrogant for that.”

“On the other hand, they’re not opposed to throwing their own allies to the wolves. As kindly demonstrated by Solon.” Lysithea said with a scowl.

Ignatz blinked in confusion. “I thought that he just left Kronya behind because he didn’t like how she acted in battle.”

“Whatever the case may be, we can’t underestimate these guys anymore.” Claude shook his head. “That’s what I did, and look what happened to me. So let’s work under the assumption that the mole knows that we’re coming for them. That way, we won’t get caught off guard by anything they can pull.”

“Sounds good to me!” Raphael exclaimed. 

“But if the spy knows that we’re onto them and they haven’t fled yet, then what are they doing here?” Hilda leaned her head into the palm of her hands. 

“They could still be keeping an eye on us, reporting back to other Slitherers we haven’t defeated yet.” Claude surmised. “Or they could be planning something more dastardly…”

His feathers bristled underneath his sleeves as he reflected on his time in captivity. The assassin, Kronya, drained him of his blood under the orders of the dark mage, Solon. Although she delighted in his torture, that kind of cruelty wasn’t in line with what he originally surmised about Those Who Slither in the Dark. Their desire for the blood of a half-harpy Almyran flew in the face of their anti-foreigner rhetoric. What in the world could they possibly want it for…? 

While Claude pondered upon that, he recalled Byleth mentioning that Solon wanted to capture her alive during their epic clash. Could that peculiar command be related to the reason why he wanted Claude’s blood? And perhaps, Byleth’s mysterious blood transfusion spell, as well? He glanced to his right, where Byleth sat, but her blank face offered no answer. Sothis, who was floating around the top of her chair, wasn’t of much help either.

“Claude.” Marianne’s gentle voice brought him back to reality. “Are you worried that they’re going to try to kidnap you again?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them.” He reluctantly admitted. “Although, maybe I’m not their target this time. They already got all the blood they could out of me. Maybe they’re aiming to get someone that eluded their grasp twice, or so I’ve been told.”

He turned his attention to Byleth again. She froze up, not only under his stare, but the stare of many others. Claude hated putting her on the spot, but if his hunch was true, it needed to be said. He would rather say the uncomfortable truth than say nothing at all and let her get hurt.

“You think that they’re trying to capture Byleth?” Hilda said in a somewhat incredulous tone.

“It’s not an impossibility. Solon was very interested in taking Byleth alive, to the point where he left Kronya behind for acting against him.” Lysithea pointed out.

Byleth remained motionless, and her wide-eyed expression was similarly stuck on her face. Even though she didn’t say anything, Claude could tell that she was scared. Above her, Sothis wrapped her ghostly wings around Byleth. “Dear hatchling, I will move heaven and earth itself before I allow any villain to harm you.”

Claude had to remind himself that only he and Byleth could hear the phantasmal girl as he offered up his own reassurances. “Don’t worry, Byleth. I won’t let anyone hurt you. In fact, I have an idea. Why don’t you hang out with all of us until this is over with? If you’re always with someone, there’s no way any Slitherers will be able to kidnap you. Plus, you’ll have more fun than if you just stay at your cabin all the time.”

Byleth’s large eyes flitted towards his. “Is that ok?” She asked quietly.

“Of course it is! You guys wouldn’t object to spending some time with Byleth, would you?” Claude smirked as he leveled his gaze towards his friends, somewhat challenging them to speak their minds. 

The first person to talk was, to his astonishment, Hilda. “Are you sure you don’t have an ulterior motive for this, Claude?” She punctuated her sentence with a peal of laughter.

“What ever made you think that?” Claude batted his eyes innocently. His gesture made Hilda snort, and then the ugly sound was quickly drowned out by a loud shout from Raphael.

“Motives or no, I’ll be happy to show our newest Deer around!” He cheered. “I’ll even show you all the tips and tricks around the kitchen!”

“M-me too.” Marianne whispered loudly. “I mean, I’ll be glad to have you. Not the kitchen part…”

“Hm. I will admit that your spellcasting abilities have me intrigued, so I wouldn’t object to your presence.” Lysithea added on.

“Well, when you’re with me, I might rope you into helping out with chores. We can’t let this mole business get in the way of keeping this place running.” Leonie spoke up.

“Um, I don’t have anything specific in mind, but I look forward to getting to know you better?” Ignatz agreed with the others with a sheepish yet earnest grin.

All this positive feedback flustered Byleth, but she nonetheless met everyone’s expectant gaze with a faint smile on her face. “Thank you, everyone. I promise to not be a bother.”

The way she smiled now was different than how she smiled in the past. It wasn’t like she wasn’t as happy around just one half-harpy man and one ethereal girl, but joining a larger group of friends kindled another kind of joy in her. And that joy was contagious. Claude couldn’t help but smile as well, which garnered a fake cough from Hilda.

But of course, the chorus of agreement had to be broken by Lorenz. His critical gaze remained on Claude the entire time. “I will confess that you have a sound idea to ensure her safety, but do you truly mean for all of us to participate?”

“Yeah, you heard me right.” Claude stared defiantly at him. “I would offer to guard Byleth by myself, but she can’t be with me all hours of the day. Imagine the kind of gossip that would spread if a strange woman was glued to my side! And it would be easier on everyone if we divided our time anyway.”

“Even so-” Lorenz started to say, then wisely cut himself off, if only because Hilda interrupted him.

“What’s the matter, Lorenz?” Hilda jeered with an impish smile. “You usually jump at the chance to spend time with a lovely lady!”

“I’m not calling Byleth’s character into question!” He yelped back, his cheeks burning furiously. “But we’re assuming that the mole is, in fact, targeting her. I do not mean to downplay the issue, but are you not concerned that you may be overreacting? Such a drastic fuss, like when you started investigating the man known as Myson, is what led to this predicament in the first place.”

As much as Claude loathed to admit it, Lorenz brought up a point that had been bothering him this entire time. If he never had pursued the Myson issue, he wouldn’t have stumbled upon Those Who Slither in the Dark, used their name to free the Almyrans, and gotten captured in retaliation. He hated that a lot of the fault rested on him and his zealousness to correct issues that might not have needed correcting. Then again, who knew what would have happened if he let the Myson problem rest? Those Who Slither in the Dark might have gone after him anyway.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on past mistakes. He took a deep breath to refocus himself. “Sure. I’ll admit that I may have been borderline paranoid at times. But now, a healthy dose of it isn’t a bad thing. If the enemy is right in our base, we should guard ourselves the best we can. Besides, I have you to keep me in line. Right?”

He shot Lorenz a wink, who only sighed and did his best to not roll his eyes.

The meeting agenda moved onto how to actually find the mole. Claude grabbed some files out of his stack of papers to start talking about his plans. Before the meeting, he thought long and hard about how to uncover the mole quickly yet covertly, so as to not scare them off. Judging from how many papers he had to pull out and the muted horror on Hilda’s face, he may have thought about it too much, but he continued talking anyway. 

For all his words, his scheme was relatively simple. Each of the Golden Deer would question the staff of a particular area all casual-like. For example, Raphael would sleuth around the kitchen, and Marianne the stables and wyvern aviary. People that had a way with words, like Hilda and Lorenz, would tackle higher-ranked persons that valued their privacy and would loudly object to being questioned. On the flip side, commoners like Ignatz and Leonie were entrusted with maids, laborers, and other servants that would get antsy if they were interrogated by nobles. 

He knew his plans were solid enough that there would hardly be any objections. That didn’t mean that the Golden Deer didn’t have any questions, though. And Claude wasn’t the only one to answer them. Everyone chimed in with their own opinions at least once. Except Byleth, who zoned out several minutes into the thorough discussion. She appeared much more interested in somehow preening her feathers underneath her robes than vocalizing anything. Even Sothis had disappeared from view, presumably bored as well. Claude spotted uneasy glances towards Byleth while she did bird things, so to ward off those looks, he spoke louder and shoved more pieces of papers in their faces.

The mole wasn’t the only member of Those Who Slither in the Dark they discussed. Thanks to some notes left behind at their base, the Golden Deer were able to learn more about people among their ranks. In particular, these notes filled in an annoying gap in Claude’s knowledge about Myson/Arturio Regaly, the man who started this whole ordeal. He joined the Slitherers after he was expelled from the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery, but he got kicked out of the group for unknown reasons. If Claude had to guess, Solon and his dismissal-happy ways had something to do with it. But regardless, by the time Claude killed Myson, he wasn’t affiliated with the Slitherers any longer. Which meant that his efforts thereafter to uncover the truth was mostly pointless…

And then there was Kronya, whose real name was Monica von Ochs. A rich noblewoman from House Ochs of Adrestia, her motivations for joining the anarchistic organization were unclear, and would probably stay that way. Claude noticed that Byleth paid rapt attention to Lysithea’s discussion of the assassin, only to lose interest when she didn’t explain much else. During their tea party the other day, Byleth told Claude that Kronya killed her human friend, so he understood why she would be disappointed by the lack of any context around the events of five years ago. He wished that he could be of some comfort to Byleth, but the conversation threatened to move on without them, and he had to focus in order to not lose track of it.

“Oh, that reminds me of something I wanted to discuss.” Lysithea piped up. “As you’re aware, Kronya had the ability to change her appearance. If our spy has the same ability, you can probably tell how much of a problem that will be for us. But after she was killed, I had the opportunity to examine her body and found this.”

The white-haired mage reached into her bag and pulled out a nondescript metal ring of sorts. Claude didn’t remember Kronya wearing it, but then again, when he was with her, there were a lot of other things going on.

“What’s that?” Raphael asked Claude’s unspoken question.

“It’s a magical accessory.” Lysithea pushed the ring closer to the center of the table. “Enchanted with illusionary magic, to be more precise. If you recall, illusion magic is incredibly complicated. There are so many variables involved to create a foolproof illusion, and it requires a lot of energy to perfectly maintain it. To achieve something satisfactory, a mage would have to weave together many smaller spells, which of course takes more time, effort, and knowledge than most mages have. That’s why illusion magic isn’t commonplace, even among noble courts and armies. But this particular piece allows its wielder to take the form of any human they desire, with few drawbacks that I can tell.”

Claude reached out to grab the ring before Lysithea could stop him. She shot him a disgruntled look, but didn’t say anything. Now that he got a closer look at it, its black metal had an unnatural, almost rainbow-like sheen, a sure sign of magic. Its inside was also engraved with an eye-shaped emblem that Claude was very familiar with. The way it stared back at him made him shudder and set the ring back down on the table.

“So, can anyone use it?” 

“Theoretically, yes.” Lysithea tentatively nodded. “But firstly, it got damaged in the fight, and secondly, it’s too dangerous to use right now. There may be malignant spells hidden within it that could seriously hurt you if you tried it on. In fact, I annulled its magic in case Those Who Slither in the Dark can use it against us. I’d need some time to unravel those enchantments as best I can.”

“Right. Of course.” He struggled to reign in the disappointment in his voice. Claude never seriously considered using illusion magic to conceal his harpy heritage, not only for the reasons Lysithea cited but also because it would necessitate revealing himself to a trusted mage. But thanks to recent events, the option became even more feasible. In fact, it was sitting right in front of him, within arm's reach. Although really, a spell to hide his feathers was only a bandage to his problems, not a permanent solution. Still, it was a more convenient bandage than what he usually had to resort to.

“Getting back to the topic at hand, when you unravel the ring’s spells, could you derive a counterspell of sorts to use against our spy?”

“That’s the idea, yes. But again, it’ll take some time.”

“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” Lorenz spoke up without any sort of prompting. “I, of course, have other duties to attend to, but I can devote the remainder of my free time to helping Lysithea with her research.”

“You’re just volunteering to get out of watching Byleth, aren’t you?” Leonie accused him.

“What a presumptuous notion!” Lorenz scoffed. “I bear no ill-will against her! I’m just offering my expertise in an area that requires it!”

“Yeah, that’s actually a good idea.” Claude said, to everyone’s surprise. “I mean, you’re not getting out of birdwatching that easily, but after the counterspell is finished, Lysithea is going to need a test subject. And you have to admit that Lorenz is looking pretty suspicious…”

“Excuse me?! You would suspect me when I’ve done nothing but good for the group?!” The aforementioned man shouted indignantly. 

“Wow, where have I heard that before?” Claude retorted back. Lorenz’s face was as red as a tomato which, when combined with his purple hair, made him look more ridiculous than intimidating. Unfortunately, his blush vanished when Lorenz caught sight of Claude’s joking smile.

“Play nice now, boys.” Lysithea rolled her eyes before putting her serious face back on. “Anyway, I wouldn’t mind Lorenz’s help, and not because I need a test subject at the end. He was pretty useful when we had to find where Solon had taken you.”

“Alright. If you’re fine with him, then I’m fine too.” Claude proclaimed. He had to fight back the astonishment in his voice, because he wasn't sure when or how Lysithea stopped minding Lorenz’s overbearing attitude. Yes, the Gloucester noble was a smart man, but he could be insufferable when working on something important. He always had to correct people, or inject his own unwanted opinion, or start arguments for the sake of hearing himself speak. It seemed like Lysithea started getting along with him while he was away, and really, he should have noticed something was up when he saw Lysithea in Lorenz’s office the other day. But during their little talk, he had too many other things on his mind to pay attention.

Once their tangent about the magic ring was dealt with, Hilda piped up with another tangent. “You know, all this talk about hunting down the mole is great and all, but what if it doesn’t end when we capture them? What if the Slitherers keep coming for Byleth until the end of time? Ugh! I don’t even want to think about being paranoid forever!”

“Firstly, I don’t think they have enough resources to keep sending people here.” Claude responded calmly. “Secondly, I have thought about our next step after we get rid of our spies.”

He paused to build suspense. Eight pairs of eyes bored into him as he took a deep breath and let loose the words on his tongue.

“We’re going to go after Those Who Slither in the Dark.”

As he predicted, no one voiced their opinion for a moment or two. That drastic statement needed some time to sink in. When the silence was finally broken, it was shockingly broken by the usually quiet Marianne.

“S-so soon? We haven’t fully recovered from our last fight.”

“It doesn’t have to be right away, obviously, but we should strike out sooner than later.” Claude gave her a reassuring nod. “We just defeated a lot of their men, and Solon is probably still licking his wounds. If we wait any longer, he’ll gather more resources and members, and the trail leading to him will grow cold. Right, Lysithea?”

The white-haired mage hesitated before responding with a bob of her head. “Right. It already became difficult to track his warp spells after we rescued you. At this rate, my magical calculations will be no better than guesswork. We need to get out there and find more definitive signs of his whereabouts.”

“But to accomplish that, we would need to travel all over the Alliance.” Ignatz casted worried looks around the table. “And I can’t imagine that the local lords would appreciate us snooping around their territory, even with so many nobles among our ranks.”

“Not to mention, we don’t exactly have the funds to run around everywhere, for however long a mission like this might take.” Leonie, ever the pragmatic one, chimed in. 

“Exactly.” Claude replied to both of them. “I’ve learned that there’s little good in trying to do things by myself, which is why I want to testify to the Leicester Alliance roundtable about Those Who Slither in the Dark.”

Another beat. He could see why his announcement was so startling. Throughout the Golden Deer’s two years of existence, they rarely had to directly interact with the lords that funded their operations. The five great houses of the Alliance preferred to keep their hands off, for the sake of being impartial. Plus, it’s not like any of the nobles gathered here had any substantial power in Derdriu. Either they chose to distance themselves from politics out of a lack of interest, like Hilda and Marianne, or the current reigning lords were still hale and hearty, so their younger relatives would do better work outside the roundtable, like Lorenz, Lysithea and Claude.

“Claude, you mean to summon the great lords of the Alliance?” Lorenz asked in a somewhat bewildered manner. “I do concur that the enemy we face is an important enough reason to gather them, but how exactly will you accomplish that?”

“Yeah. If I remember right, you aren’t even on great terms with your uncle.” Hilda added.

Claude flashed both of a coy smile. “Duke Riegan may not listen to me on a lot of things, but he can’t possibly ignore people that almost killed his nephew. A letter asking him to make the summons should do the trick. And we won’t be needed in Derdriu until he has obliged us, so we should have plenty of time to prepare our speeches and such.”

"Still, I don't know…" Marianne's gaze drifted down to her lap as her voice trailed off.

Claude tried to comfort her with a sympathetic glance. "If any of you have any doubts, I won’t force any of you to come. I know it can be hard to present to nobles that hold our fate in their hands, so no one has to attend the roundtable if they don’t want to. But this is our chance to right wrongs, to make the world a better place. We can’t let this opportunity slip away.”

“Ugh. When you word it like that, of course we have to go with you.” Hilda’s fake pout matched her fake frustration. “At least my brother shouldn’t be there, I think. He’s probably too busy guarding Fodlan’s Locket to show up.”

“I’ll come too!” Leonie stated shortly afterwards. “I never attended a roundtable before, but the Golden Deer need to show up as one if we’re going to convince anyone of anything.”

“Not that you’ll need much help with that!” Raphael laughed. “You’re so good at talking, you can talk water outta a rock! I bet the lords will be throwing money at us by the time you’re done!”

“Hey, thanks big guy.” Claude smiled in his general direction. “But sadly, it won’t be as easy as you think. I can just picture them bickering over just how much funds each house can afford, and who’ll take the credit of the Slitherers’ capture, among other things…”

He trailed off when next to him, Byleth suddenly spoke up. “Can I join?”

“Ah-” Claude swiveled around to face her. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can bring you to the roundtable itself. I mean, we still count you as a Golden Deer, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to introduce you to the lords. You can still come with us Derdriu though. There’s a lot of nice places I’d like to show you.”

Even with his tacked-on promise, Byleth hung her head in resignation. Claude hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he spoke the truth. He couldn’t risk not only his own plans, but Byleth’s safety, for the sake of including her. If there was any way around that, he would gladly take it, but presently…

“Um.” Marianne whispered while wringing her hands in her lap. “If we have to keep Byleth a secret, how will we explain… a lot of what happened?”

“You know me. I’ve been spinning lies for as long as I can talk, so I’m sure I can think of something.”

“On that note, there’s also the matter of, ah, your attire as well.” Lorenz interjected abruptly. 

His vague words drew Claude’s attention towards him. He had an inkling of what he was talking about, but that didn’t stop him from asking, “What do you mean?”

“The gaudy hats that you have been wearing recently aren’t acceptable at the roundtable, even when taking your questionable fashion sense into consideration. I am well aware of the reason why you wear them, but the fact that you must find an alternative solution remains.”

Claude chose not to answer him at first, letting an awkward tension grow between them. Although Lorenz refused to say the f-word, he knew all too well what he was really talking about. Claude had to push down the urge to bring his hands up to his head, and instead rested them on his arms.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll take care of them before the roundtable starts.” His muttering lacked his usual bravado.

“Take care of them how?” Hilda tilted her head in puzzlement. “I’ve been wondering how you managed to hide them for so long. Do you use a special potion, or magic, or…?”

She asked him so innocuously, yet her questions weighed heavily in his mind. With all attention on Claude again, there was no way he could squirm out of an answer. He had to respond, no matter how much he hated to utter it out loud and how poorly the others would react. It was times like these he wished that his secrets never had left the confines of his heart.

He breathed in, and forced himself to speak as casually as he could. “It’s nothing as complicated as that. I just pull them out.”

Beside him, Byleth flinched so much, he could hear her move without glimpsing her way. The humans around the table appeared just as concerned, with Hilda looking sorry that she asked in the first place. 

“Doesn’t that hurt?” She inquired. Her genuinely disturbed expression was a rare sight to see.

“Yeah, it does, but-”

He was going to say he grew accustomed to pulling out his feathers, so the pain didn’t bother him as much as it used to, but the rest of his sentence was quickly drowned by protests from all over.

“You’ve been hurting yourself the whole time?”

“Dude, that’s messed up-”

“I’m so sorry, Claude. I had no idea-”

“Don’t hurt yourself, man! There’s gotta be better ways to hide your feathers!”

“Guys, I appreciate the concern, but-”

It wasn’t more shouting that interrupted him this time, but a gentle tug on his sleeve. When Claude glanced to the side, he met Byleth’s gaze, bright blue and full of worry.

“Please, don’t do it.” She murmured. “I don’t want you in any more pain. And… I like you better with feathers.”

Claude didn’t know how to react to her quiet statement. He just blinked. That wasn’t something he expected to hear. Actually, he didn’t expect to hear such a loud outcry from everyone in general. Of course, he didn’t enjoy getting rid of his feathers to look like a normal human, but he thought of it as an ugly necessity. Until now, apparently. 

A part of Claude was a bit upset about how his friends asked him to stop so noisily, like they thought it was so simple to give up, like they didn't really understand the gravity of his situation. And yet, another part of him was relieved that they minded Claude’s wellbeing over the inhuman growths on his arms and behind his ears. At least, that was how they seemed like to him. Even Hilda appeared just as flabbergasted as the others, although he noted that Lorenz didn’t chime in with the rest of them. He was frozen in place, his face growing paler with each passing second.

But out of everyone’s exclamations, what that stuck out in Claude’s mind was Byleth’s last few words. She liked them that much? He repeated her confession to himself over and over again until the harpy shifted her attention from him to Lysithea, of all people.

“Lysithea, can you repurpose the ring to hide Claude’s feathers?”

The young mage blinked, as if startled by how Byleth spoke directly to her. She regained her bearings quickly enough. “I could. Since I’m already researching it to create a counterspell, a spell for Claude won’t take too much more effort.”

“But didn’t you say it was too dangerous for me to use it?” Claude tilted his head slightly.

“Right now, yes. But once I finish examining it, I have full confidence I can come up with something. It might take a while, but if torturing yourself is the alternative, then I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

Claude opened his mouth for perhaps a witty rebuttal of sorts, but nothing came out. Truthfully, he thought Lysithea still harbored some kind of grudge against him. But now, not only was she offering her precious time and energy for Claude’s sake, she was willing to use something from Those Who Slither in the Dark to help him. Appropriating the ring may not be as bad as appropriating their very identities, but her quick reversal of opinions still puzzled Claude. Was she being hypocritical? Did she already forgive him? Was it because Byleth asked her about it? Or did she have some other thought process he wasn’t privy to? He had to talk with her later, once they weren’t surrounded by other pairs of ears.

For now, he grinned at all those around him. “Thanks, Lysithea. And thank you to everyone else, for your  _ very _ vocal thoughts on the matter.”

“So that means you aren’t going to yank out your feathers?” Raphael asked with relief in his voice.

“Not now, no. All your fussing would be worse than whatever the lords at Derdriu could do to me, I’m sure.”

“As glad as I am to hear that, please know that this isn’t something to joke about.” Marianne’s stern look contrasted against her soft-spoken words. “We really are worried about you…”

“Yeah, I know.” Claude allowed some sincerity to slip into his voice. When did he become so cared for? Or maybe, did they always care about him that much, and he never noticed because he closed himself off to them? Regardless, all of this attention felt… nice. Even though he could do without the loudness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Golden Deer are basically playing a big game of Among Us and Claude thinks Lorenz is sus.


	31. A Cyan Glow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude, Byleth, and Lysithea have a very informative meeting about Crests that leads them closer to the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! Here's another chapter. :D

Despite their exhaustive conference the other day, Claude still wanted to bug Lysithea about a number of things, not all of them relating to Those Who Slither in the Dark. But he had a hard time arranging another meeting partially because of their workload, and partially because he needed to bring someone else along. Fortunately, he found himself in Lysithea’s study soon enough, with Byleth (and Sothis) by his side.

“What did you want to ask? Is it about the ring? I told you, I barely made any progress on it.” The Ordelian noblewoman said once they were in the privacy of her study. Her question was directed towards Claude, yet her eyes remained on Byleth. Lysithea probably still wasn’t used to being so close to a harpy, even one dressed in long robes that covered every inch of her birdish attributes. He couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that the hat he picked out today, a wide-brimmed explorer’s hat made of yellow canvas, didn’t distract her from Byleth.

“No, I’m not here for the ring.” Claude responded. “This might sound weird, but can you check both of us for Crests?”

“Huh?” His odd request caused her to startle. “Why would you want to do that? Your Crest should still be there. And as for Byleth… I’ve never heard of a harpy with a Crest.”

“Yeah, but Byleth isn’t shy about breaking conventions. Isn’t that right?” Claude shot the aforementioned harpy a wink, and she responded back with a nod. “Like I said, I know it sounds strange, but I just want to confirm a few ideas.”

Lysithea hesitated for a moment, her lips pursing into a straight line. Then she softened her expression as she ultimately relented. “You and your ideas. I guess there’s no harm in checking. Let me get my needles.”

“Needles?” Claude blurted out.

“Yes. To get the most accurate result, I’ll need blood samples from both of you.”

“That’s, uh.” Claude hated how weak he felt at the prospect of shedding more blood. Although his time at Kronya’s hand was more than a week ago, by his estimates, he could still feel the cold edge of her knife like it was yesterday. At least he wasn’t the only one here opposed to blood-letting. He noticed out of the corner of his eyes how Byleth tensed up too.

He swallowed his fear to steady his voice. “Don’t you have another way to check for Crests? Without the need for blood?”

Lysithea, who was in the middle of rifling through her stuff, whirled around. She scrutinized Claude’s body language for the hidden meaning behind his suggestion. A few seconds later, she gave him a sympathetic nod that also served as a wordless apology.

“I do have something, actually. It’s not as thorough as blood tests, but it should be adequate for a simple check-up. Don’t blame me if it doesn’t give you the answers you’re looking for, though.”

Claude was about to ask her who her colleague was, but Lysithea interrupted him by placing a flat contraption made of brass on the floor. It was composed of odd, angular parts and a large glass lens in its center. He had no idea how it worked until Lysithea casted a quick spell over it, causing a light to shine through its lens. Which… still didn’t explain anything, really.

“Hold your hand over the light.” She instructed Claude.

When he did as she asked, the magical light somehow consolidated over his hand and took the shape of a floating blue crescent moon. The Crest of Riegan was all too familiar to Claude, yet he couldn’t help but feel disappointed at seeing it. His let down must have been obvious, because Lysithea was quick to comment on it.

“Why the long face?”

“Ah, well, I guess I was expecting something to change after Byleth healed me with her blood.”

“That’s ridiculous. Harpy blood may have a lot of weird properties, but affecting a Crest isn’t one of them. Even if it was transfused by a powerful spell. Although…”

Lysithea stared at the glowing symbol over Claude’s hand. Her tapping finger on her chin indicated that she was thinking about retracting what she just said.

“What’s on your mind?” He asked.

Claude’s inquiry pulled her head out of the clouds. “I just noticed that your Crest, as imaged by the device, is surrounded by an unusual aura. It’s hard to see, but maybe this will help.”

Lysithea hurriedly grabbed a black cloth and held it up to make a dark background to Claude’s Crest. True to her observation, there was a faint cyan haze that surrounded the blue crescent and extended a few inches out. The halo’s color reminded Claude of Byleth’s new eyes, although he was certain that she wasn’t the cause of this phenomenon.

“You don’t look terribly surprised.” Lysithea noted.

“That’s because the aura’s always been there. I think.”

“And how would you know that?”

“When I first joined House Riegan, a Crest scholar tested for my Crest with a device similar to this one. That’s when I noticed the second aura. And to tell you the truth, I didn’t think much of it. I thought that if the Crest scholar didn’t mention the cyan glow, it was normal for Crest bearers. But maybe he just didn’t notice it back then...”

Claude withdrew his hand to place it under his chin. That gesture drew a sharp noise from Lysithea. “Put your hand over the device again.” She barked. “I need to examine your Crest further.”

He exaggerated his eye roll as he stretched his hand out once more. Lysithea proceeded to hem and haw over him like he was a test subject, but when she was on the verge of a great discovery, Claude couldn’t begrudge her. He instead glanced Byleth’s and Sothis’s way. Both of them were watching with great interest, except Sothis’s interest was the fascinated kind and Byleth’s interest was more on the confused side than anything.

“You know, maybe you weren’t wrong about harpy blood affecting Crests. But in your case, it’s your own blood that’s causing this.” Lysithea eventually said after a thorough study. “Tell me, have you noticed any other unusual characteristics about your Crest?”

“I wouldn’t recognize them if I had any.” Claude smirked at her. “This is normal to me, remember?”

“Fine. How about I quiz you then? What does your Crest feel like when it activates?”

“Well, for starters, it mostly activates when I’m hurt, so the first thing I feel is pain.” His smirk didn’t diminish when Lysithea shot him a pointed glare. “Then, it’s like a fire is lit in my very core, coupled with the insatiable urge to lash out. If I manage to hit someone, it feels like I’m draining their very life force to quench the fire and the pain. And if I don’t hit anyone, well, my pain mostly goes away, but there’s a bit of an ache left behind.”

The way his Crest worked may sound a bit messed up, but it really was the truth. What might be more messed up was how nonchalant Claude felt over stealing someone else’s life force. He had to come to terms with that effect of his Crest long ago, thanks to a world that didn’t allow him to play nice. Still, Claude glanced to the side to gauge Byleth’s reaction. She appeared impassive as always, thankfully. A predator like her would know what it was like to kill or die.

Lysithea, on the other hand, had more of a reaction. But the brief scowl on her face made her look frustrated, or even envious, rather than disgusted. She quickly wiped away whatever that negative emotion was. “I see. I may not have a lot of experience when it comes to healing Crests, but yours doesn’t sound out of the ordinary. In fact, it sounds similar to how Nosferatu feels.”

“Heh. I’m glad that something is normal about me.”

Lysithea glared at him again. “It’s much too early to say that. What about your Crest activation rate?”

“Rate of what, exactly?”

“I’m asking how often your Crest activates when you get hurt. For a minor Crest of the healing kind, the activation rate should be around 30%.”

“How am I supposed to know that? When my Crest activates, I’m thinking about how not to die. Not ‘oh, this is the third time or so I’ve used this today’.”

“Fair enough. I suppose that was a stupid question.” Lysithea frowned. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, deep in thought about what to say next, then her eyes lit up with a revelation. “Claude. When you use Failnaught, you can shoot two different kinds of arrows from its Crest Stone. An arrow of red lightning, and an arrow of cyan wind. I just realized the color of your wind arrow is the same color as the second aura of your Crest. There must be a correlation between that and your harpy blood.”

Claude just stood there and blinked, much to Lysithea’s annoyance. She huffed and crossed her arms. “Don’t tell me you thought _that_ was normal too.”

“Ehhhh. I plead innocent?” 

“Goddess, Claude. For all your cunning, you can be so _dense_.” Lysithea pressed a hand against her face. “For Heroes’ Relics that take the form of weapons, their attacks are fueled by red lightning-like energy. Not cyan windy energy. They aren't even supposed to have two different types of attacks. Did no one really mention it to you before? Not even your family?”

“My uncle might have said something about it once, actually.” Claude admitted. “But by the time I started experimenting with Failnaught, the only other person with the Crest of Riegan had passed away. So it’s not like I had anyone to ask.”

Upon mentioning his dead grandfather, Lysithea immediately fell quiet. Claude didn’t mean to guilt trip her into shutting up, but at the same time, he didn’t really want to talk about his family right now. Even when he was set to visit his dear uncle in the near future.

There were more important matters to discuss anyway. He slapped a bright smile on his face to cheer her up. “Anyway, you think that my harpy blood interacts with Failnaught to create something new? Interesting. One would think that the blood of abominations would desecrate a holy weapon of the Goddess, not augment its power. Unless you count my wind arrows as a kind of desecration…?”

Claude gave a side-eyed glance to Sothis, who just shrugged in return. So much for maybe being the Goddess of Fodlan, or an Almyran spirit, or both.

“I wouldn’t. But I’m also not an expert on what’s holy and what isn’t.” Lysithea said hastily, before changing the subject. “How does it feel to use your wind arrows? Any different from the lightning arrows?”

Claude took a moment to think about his answer before shaking his head. “I don’t feel any difference. It all comes naturally to me.”

“But you conjure your arrows based on what hand is touching the Crest Stone. That can’t be instinctual.”

“It isn’t, but there isn’t any real meaning behind it. It’s just how I trained myself to use Failnaught. While I was still learning, I would fire off red arrows and cyan arrows at random, or sometimes both at once. Those combo arrows were less potent than you’d expect, by the way. In order to control how I shoot, I trained my Crest to react to how I held my bow because it seemed like the easiest way to go about it, and then it just stuck.”

Now that he explained himself out loud, Claude actually remembered a difference between his red and cyan arrows. When he created his bolts of lightning, his Crest burned within him like a hot, blistering fire whose power couldn’t be contained. He had to channel that power into Failnaught, otherwise it would consume him inside-out. On the other hand, his arrows of wind invoked a similar level of heat, sans any burning. It was the same kind of heat he might get from standing in the afternoon sun or sitting in a sauna for too long, the kind of heat that radiated from a faraway hearth he couldn’t touch directly. This odd sensation gave Claude a strong impression of a flame, but only an impression.

He considered relaying all this to Lysithea, but it seemed like she moved on without him. “Hmph. Leave it to you to control Failnaught by learning two different stances. I almost don’t want to ask how you figured out that trick you used against the Almyran harpies.”

“How else? Through lots of trial and error and injuries.” Claude slapped a cocky smile over his previously pensive expression.

“What trick are you talking about?” Byleth piped up.

“It’s when I shoot an arrow or two into the sky and then, a few seconds later, they rain down on my foes like falling stars.” Claude answered her. “It looks better than it sounds. Honestly. Maybe I can demonstrate it for you later.”

“I would like that.” Byleth responded at the same time Lysithea cleared her throat.

“Before you start showing off, there was one other thing you asked of me. Remember?”

“Right.” Claude muttered while he turned to Byleth. He gestured towards the contraption on the floor with both hands. “Well then, aren’t you curious to see if you have a Crest?”

She nodded wordlessly and took several steps forward while Lysithea rambled at her. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up if I were you. This device was made for humans first and foremost. A harpy with a Crest was never even a plausible idea, so-”

Lysithea stopped mid-sentence when she took a good, hard look at the light in front of her. Byleth had stretched out her wing talons over the light, her shadow barely covering the lens on the ground. And yet, the light that consolidated above her wing shone brighter than it did for Claude. The formed shape looked like an odd, vibrantly orange squiggle, and glowed too fiercely to leave any room for a second aura. 

"What is that?!" Lysithea practically shouted 

"It’s-" Claude stopped himself mid-sentence. He actually had no idea what it was, but it was definitely something important.

Byleth's shocked eyes were wide enough to reflect the orange symbol, which looked like a dancing fire in a canvas of blue. However, she was stunned to complete silence. Sothis leaned closer, her eyes just as large, but not solely out of surprise. She drank every detail at the image in front of her, and was about to say something when the illumination blinked, as if the device couldn’t keep it up. Not long afterwards, the Crest-detector suddenly started to spark and sputter and emit dark smoke that burned Claude’s nostrils.

“Oh no! What did you do to it?” Lysithea yelled at Byleth.

“I didn’t-” She started to say, only to be interrupted by the young mage’s frantic movements. The device’s light flashed purple as Lysithea’s hand moved to slap away Byleth’s wing. Once the harpy was no longer reaching over it, the delicate instrument stopped throwing a fit and once again shone an undisturbed light, as if it didn’t have any problems just mere seconds ago.

Claude went over this turn of events several times in his head before speaking up. “So, Lysithea, does Byleth have a Major Crest or a Minor Crest?”

Lysithea, who was in the middle of checking what went wrong, shot him a nasty glare, then turned back to her contraption. She didn’t look at either Claude or Byleth as she conveyed her thoughts.

“A Major Crest wouldn’t give the device any trouble. Either Byleth wields something much more powerful, or harpy Crests are too different from human Crests to read properly. But it still shouldn’t be possible to almost destroy the Crest detector from a simple examination.”

“Sorry.” Byleth muttered.

Her quiet apology made Lysithea spin her head around. She looked as if she wanted to take back her harsh words from earlier, but instead settled on an apologetic glance.

“Near-catastrophe aside, I have no idea what Crest Byleth just displayed. I’ve never seen anything even remotely like it. Might it be a new kind of Crest?"

“Well, you’re the expert here. If you think it’s new, it must be.” Claude replied just as Sothis yelped an enthusiastic ‘aha!’

"Do you fools really not recognize it? It’s the insignia that’s on my clothes! Or, at least part of it." She held up the section of her robe that was adorned with the graceful, looping symbol.

“Oh. And it’s on my chest too.” Byleth casually mentioned as she touched her chestplate. 

That comment drew Lysithea’s gaze in an instant. “What’s on your chest?” She barked.

“The Crest. It’s part of the symbol that’s on my chest. Do you want to see it?”

Claude almost choked on his own shock. He instead turned that ugly sound into coughs that cleared his throat. Although Byleth’s obliviousness was part of her charm, he wished that she wasn’t so blase about certain societal taboos of humans. Not only someone could take advantage of her, how was he supposed to keep a straight face around her?

Thankfully, Lysithea declined the offer with a rosy blush on her face. “No, thank you. But I’m still curious about your symbol. Could you draw it out for me?”

When Byleth nodded, Lysithea shoved a pencil and notebook into her wings. Byleth grasped both of them awkwardly, but she started to draw without hesitation. It took much guidance from Sothis and a few restarts to get the sketches right. And the end result wasn't exactly perfect, composed of more wobbly lines than fluid curves, but it was close enough in Claude’s opinion.

Lysithea squinted at the picture, disappointment eventually settling on her features. “Hm. I still don’t recognize it, but the fact that my device was only able to show part of your Crest is interesting. That may mean I need to adjust its detection range and amplification. But honestly, I don’t want to risk breaking my Crest detector again, so I’ll have to settle for your drawing.”

"Fair enough." Claude nodded. Somehow, his agreeance drew a sharp stare from Lysithea.

"You don't seem all that surprised by Byleth's Crest." She pointed out. "I thought someone like you would be bouncing off the walls from this."

"Uh-"

"That's because he's seen it before." Byleth abruptly answered. Behind her, Sothis snorted with laughter.

Lysithea gave her a shocked look, then as she turned towards Claude, her eyes grew even wider. "Wait, did you-"

"I just was helping her wash her chestplate earlier. That's all." Claude interrupted her accusation with a loud voice. Sothis laughed again, and he bit down on his tongue to avoid lashing out at her. Despite his attempts to keep a straight face, he felt a traitorous blush painting his cheeks red.

“ANYWAY, I take it we’re assuming that the symbol is a Crest then? Not anything else?” Claude asked in an effort to move on.

Lysithea nodded confidently. “It has to be. This latest prototype may have its flaws, but it won’t mistake anything else for a Crest.”

“But it picked up on my harpy blood. At least, that’s what you think the weird cyan glow of my Crest was.”

“Yes, well, maybe there’s a correlation between Crests and harpies…”

Her already pale face grew paler at the implications from her idle statement. Claude, however, already had suspicions about this for a long time. It may have taken drastic events to get there, including but not limited to kidnapping, heartfelt speeches, and numerous reveals, but now he couldn't deny the tenuous connection between two supposedly unrelated topics.

While Lysithea remained deep in thought, Claude started spouting his own theory. Or at least the parts he felt comfortable spouting. "Think about it, Lysithea. Solon's experiments dealt mostly with blood and blood transfusions. The source of his artificial Crests must be blood from a living being, but there hasn't been any human recorded with your Crests, the Crest of Macuil or Noa, in generations. A harpy with either of them hasn't been ruled out though…"

Lysithea grimaced at Claude like he just slapped her. "If there were harpies with such powerful Crests, we would've noticed them by now. How would they have gotten them anyway? The goddess granted humans with the power of Crests, not harpies."

Or maybe the Goddess of Fodlan was more feathery than she was led to believe, but that was a story for another time. For now, Claude presented a different hypothesis. "You know how female harpies can take human males as mates to produce more harpies? What if they mated with a man with the Crest of Macuil or Noa? And while the human bloodline died out, the harpy bloodline lived on. Until they were killed or driven into hiding, that is."

"That may be possible, but that doesn’t mean Solon got his Crest-bearing blood from harpies." Lysithea's scowl deepened. "Humans and harpies are two drastically different races, separated by more than just the sky. How did he hope to succeed if their blood is incompatible and a transfusion would result in death?"

"Like what's happening to you?" Claude pointed out, only to take back his words when she flinched. 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to make light of your problems.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “But despite how crazy it sounds, my theory would explain some of Solon's goals. Like, what if he wanted my half-harpy, half-human blood because it could act as an intermediary of sorts, the key to a successful transfusion? What if he also wants Byleth because of the Crest within her? Whatever her Crest is, it allows her to foresee danger and almost broke your device with its sheer strength. It definitely isn't something a mad dark mage should get his hands on.”

And those weren't the only thoughts that raged in his mind. What if a gift of blood was how Simorq turned her followers into the first harpies of Almyra? What if she or Sothis or whoever the Goddess was granted the holy figures of Fodlan their Crests much the same way? What if the true purpose of Sothis's blood transfusion spell was to carry out these miracles that passed into legend? 

These wild theories were actually what led him to today's meeting with Lysithea. Claude felt like the truth behind everything was closer than it ever has been, now that he confirmed that Byleth actually had a Crest, but it was blocked by several questions he couldn't answer. Why were Simorq’s and the Goddess’s boons so different if they were given through similar methods? Why does Byleth, of all harpies, have a powerful and one-of-a-kind Crest? And when she gave Claude her blood, why didn’t he gain another Crest or wings or anything like that? His own Crest hadn't even changed at all. Claude just gained the ability to interact with Sothis, which was a remarkable side-effect but not the one he was hoping for. There must be something he was missing…

Lysithea held a hand up to her chin as she mulled over what Claude said. Surprisingly, she looked like she was almost ready to believe him. “You know, I would have still called you crazy if you didn’t sound like another Crestologist. Have you heard of Hanneman von Essar?”

“Yeah, I heard of him. I thought he was researching harpies though?”

“He wrote _Under a Shared Sky_.” Byleth added.

“Yes and yes.” Lysithea nodded to both of them. “But he was a Crestologist before then. He actually made good work in that area before he switched fields. His sudden change of mind caused quite an uproar too. Most people were just baffled, but when I did further digging, I found out that he thought that there was a relation between Crests and harpy blood too. However, I don’t know whether he shifted focus because he wanted to pursue that connection or because he was humiliated out of Crestology.”

“And it’s not like we can ask him about it, since he disappeared a long time ago.” Claude sighed. “I wonder if he’s still alive and kicking…?”

“Personally, I doubt it. People don’t just vanish for 21 years and then show up again.” Lysithea shrugged. “Anyway, even if you have a famed Crestologist on your side, I’m afraid that your theories still don’t make any sense. For instance, if harpy blood really can give Crests, then how come you didn’t get Byleth’s Crest when she healed you with it?”

“Oh, you figured out what I was after?” Claude asked in muted surprise.

“How could I not, after you admitted that you expected your Crest to change, and then started rambling about your purported yet baseless guesswork? It doesn’t work like that, anyway.”

“What doesn’t work like that?” Byleth chimed in.

“Receiving a new Crest or two.” Lysithea’s voice grew softer and harder at the same time. “It isn’t as easy as getting stabbed through the heart while someone serenades you. It involves… lots of pain, and dread. And in the end, you’re left with this.”

Lysithea held her hand over the device on the ground. Immediately afterwards, a tangle of purple lights shone brightly like a beacon of her cruel fate. Claude could make out the Crest of Macuil and Noa from the mess, the symbols overlapping each other and twisting themselves into barely recognizable shapes. Their glows also weren’t steady like Claude’s Crest. They flickered and wavered, not because their power couldn’t be contained, but because their unnaturalness pushed the Crest-detector to its limits.

“Lysithea…” Claude uttered, only to be cut off by a harsh stare as she pulled her hand away.

“Regardless if you’re right or not, we can’t let Solon steal a single feather or drop of blood from Byleth. No one should go through what I did.”

Claude nodded while returning Lysithea’s bold statement with his own. “Of course. That crusty old man and any goons under his command won’t be able to get close to her when I’m around. And if by some miracle they do, I’ll do whatever I can to protect you.” 

He aimed his last sentence at Byleth, but she didn’t smile at his sincere promise like he thought she would. She instead frowned ever so slightly, as if she was troubled? Did his words upset her somehow? 

“Not when _we’re_ around.” Lysithea corrected. “And you just said that Solon wanted your blood too, so your re-capture would be just as disastrous as Byleth’s.”

“Would it? He already has all the blood he could ever need for me.” Claude glanced between her and Byleth, hoping that their matching frowns would lighten up, but they barely did. 

With a sigh, he said, “Ok, I wasn’t really going to just throw myself at Solon if he shows his ugly face around here, but I do mean everything else I said. So don’t worry, ok?”

Claude slapped an easygoing smile on his face for good measure. Fortunately, his statements and gestures eased the tension in the room, allowing him to breathe freely again. Byleth in particular looked relieved, although he still noticed some turbulence behind those otherwise calm eyes.

"Hmph. Your promise would be more believable if you hadn't lost the last encounter with Solon." Lysithea scoffed. "But regardless, I'll see what I can find out about Byleth's mystery Crest in between my research into the ring and the illusion counterspell."

The way that she emphasized the last part of her sentence told Claude that with her current workload, she wouldn't be able to uncover much of all. But it would certainly be better than nothing. 

"Thanks, Lysithea. I wouldn't worry too much about Crests right now. The matter of Those Who Slither in the Dark is more pressing." Claude nodded. "Although…"

"Although what?" Lysithea’s pink eyes snapped onto Claude. 

He didn't want to bring this up now, but it was something that had been bugging him since their last meeting. He had to seize the moment, while they were together and were afforded some privacy.

Claude inhaled a bit before letting loose his long overdue question. “I have to ask, why are you doing so much to uncover the truth with me?”

Lysithea hesitated, as if she didn’t expect to hear something so personal. Then a knowing smirk crossed her face. “Isn’t it obvious? By figuring out how Solon implanted these Crests in me, I can figure out how to get rid of them. Or have you forgotten why I’ve devoted so much time and energy to Crestology in the first place?”

“I haven’t. But I thought you wanted nothing to do with me after pretending to be Those Who Slither in the Dark.”

The room fell quiet once more. If he had his way, Claude would’ve preferred to hold this conversation when Byleth wasn’t with them, but he didn’t want to wait any longer. The empty gap between them might fester into something worse if left unresolved. Besides, it wasn’t a terrible thing to let Byleth listen in. Although he already did so during their second tea party, he didn’t mind another chance to prove to her his commitment to honesty.

When Lysithea refused to be the first one to break the silence, Claude took the opportunity to continue talking. “And that’s another thing. During our big Golden Deer meeting, you were surprisingly fine with modifying Kronya’s ring into something for me. Yet you hated me for using Those Who Slither in the Dark for arguably bigger purposes. Now, I don’t mind if you still haven’t forgiven me, but I need to know where we’re at. With some important missions on the horizon, we have to be on the same page or else face defeat.”

The white-haired mage remained mute. Claude thought about changing the subject to offer her a way out, but then she finally spoke up with unwavering eyes. 

"I'm not so heartless to let you suffer when I have the solution right in front of me. And using a ring from a dead assassin is different than using their name as a scapegoat for your schemes. But even so, it's childish of me to hold a grudge any longer."

"I don't think it's childish to have things you can't accept." Claude shook his head. "What Those Who Slither in the Dark did to you and your family is unforgivable, plain and simple."

"Yes, I'm not about to let those villains off so easily, but I'm talking about you." There was an edge to her voice as she replied back. "You had to compromise and make difficult decisions to save your friends. And now, with another battle imminent, I need to do the same. You gave me an apology already, and you're handling the mole issue adequately enough, so it's time for me to stop holding your moment of thoughtlessness against you and work with you again. If only to take down a foe we have in common, and to come up with the cure you promised."

Claude knew that Lysithea was always the pragmatic sort of person. How could she not be, when she only had a fraction of the years needed to accomplish all her goals? And yet, she was driven by emotions just as much as logic. Her almost bullish determination left little room for leniency, especially towards people that would get in her way. People like Claude, who would tempt her to his side and then betray her trust so callously. 

Taking all this into account, it was quite a surprise to hear a concession like this from Lysithea. But was it really that unexpected for her to see Claude as an ally again, considering what she now knew and what laid ahead? He should probably be thanking her instead of doubting her.

“Thank you, Lysithea, for reconsidering.” Claude ended up voicing that gratitude out loud. “I really am sorry about how insensitive I was back then. If I had even a shred of your moral integrity, we maybe wouldn’t even be in this mess. But now, that changes. No more backstabbing or pretending to be evil dark mages. We’re in this together, until we accomplish our dreams.”

“That is very kind of you to say. Thank you.” Lysithea responded back. “But your dream is to unite the people of Fodlan and Almyra, is it not? How do Solon’s Crest experiments factor into it? Don’t tell me you’re going to give everyone Crests for the sake of equality.”

“Heh. Nothing of the sort, don’t worry.” Claude laughed quietly. “The answer is actually quite simple. Those Who Slither in the Dark don’t only torture children with hideous medical experiments. They also aim to destroy anyone, king or emperor, noble or commoner, that would try to reach a hand across borders. In order to achieve the world I dream of, I have to get rid of them.”

He would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel guilty about omitting several important details of his ambitions. But a landbound soul like Lysithea wouldn’t get it, not like Byleth and Sothis. He might try to explain it some other time, but now, he poured every ounce of sincerity into what Lysithea could understand.

And his efforts paid off. Lysithea seemed considerably happier, although her gaze hadn’t completely softened. “I don’t doubt you. But as nice as your sentiment is, let me say one thing.” 

“What is it?”

She looked straight into his eyes, in a way that unsettled Byleth in the background. “If you give me any more reason to doubt your intentions, I will end you like how I intend to end Solon. I do not have time to waste, and I will not be made a fool of twice. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.” Claude replied with an upward quirk of his lip. Her threat may have intimated other men, but he knew better than to be scared. Just like Lysithea knew that his smile didn't mean he wasn't joking. In fact, she returned his serious answer with a faint smile of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when I wrote the first several chapters, I didn't plan to have Crests in this story, which is why Hanneman was a harpy researcher instead of a Crestologist. Now that I added Crests back into the mix, I had to figure out how to reconcile canon Hanneman with this Hanneman. Hence the little bit in this chapter. Of course, there will be more on this subject later. :3c


	32. A Feeling of Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth and Claude (and Raphael) have a fight, but it's the good kind of fighting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today, this fic is ~~6~~ 9 months old! It has also reached 200k words and over 9000 hits! I honestly never thought I would make it this far, but this story has become very dear to me and I intend to see it through to the end, even if it takes me another ~~6~~ 9 months lol. If you're still reading along, thank you for your continued support! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the many more that will follow. <3
> 
> EDIT: I realized after I posted this chapter that this fic is actually 9 months old instead of 6. Which is still something to celebrate so :D I blame the pandemic for skewing my sense of time.

From what little of what Byleth knew about combat, an archer like Claude should have been at a disadvantage against a brawler like Raphael.

Yet here he was, in an empty field just outside the Riegan estate, dodging thrown fists and stepping around punches like a flighty bird. With his eyes closed, no less! Claude explained to Byleth earlier that when he used his Crest in conjunction with Failnaught, he could 'feel' air currents and the disturbances to said air currents that any movement caused, and react accordingly. This specific maneuver combined his Crest-given agility with the arrow he shot into the sky earlier, but seeing as how the arrow hadn’t fallen yet, Byleth wasn’t sure what to expect.

Actually, Byleth didn’t really get any of this, but his demonstration spoke for itself. Claude's swerves and steps were unnatural yet mesmerizing, like he was partaking in a strange dance. His Hero's Relic, which he clung to with his right hand, glowed a fierce orange color and emitted waves of shimmering heat. But despite its energized appearance, Claude never shot at Raphael. He just held onto Failnaught and kept on avoiding the bigger man's attacks.

One such attack almost caught Claude off guard. He had to raise Failnaught to block a punch that he couldn't swerve around in time. That ungraceful action gave Byleth pause. Was he really not untouchable in his Crest-induced state? Or was there something else at play? 

She got her answer when Claude pushed Raphael back, right before a bolt of red lightning struck the spot he once stood on. The resulting shockwave knocked both Raphael and Claude off their feet. Byleth got up and stepped towards them out of concern, but she didn't have to worry. After a few seconds of groaning and panting, Raphael got back up and Claude followed soon afterwards. The scorched earth between them, still smoking from Failnaught's arrow, was a bit alarming though.

"Are you alright?" She asked the two of them, although her focus was more on Claude.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Claude gasped out. He sounded more out of breath than he should have, even when considering the trick he just performed. He bent over momentarily to pick up his hat that fell on the ground. His chosen accessory for today was a wolf cap made out of real fur. When he slapped it back on his head, a pair of flaps dangled over his ears and feathers. Byleth thought the hat was cute, while Sothis thought it looked absolutely ridiculous.

"What about you, Raphael? You didn't get hurt at all, did you?" Claude turned to the other man, who was brushing dust off his clothes.

"Nah. I'm right as rain, thanks to you!" He beamed. "And that was an amazing match! I knew that Crests are powerful, but I didn't know they could do something like that!"

Claude tilted his head a bit. "Didn't you see me pull off this stunt during the Almyran mission?"

Raphael hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "I guess I didn't get a very good look at it back then, since I was on the ground and all. And it definitely doesn't compare to our sparring! I actually almost hit you right before the arrow fell back down! I bet that if we keep training like this, I'll be able to hit you even when you're using your Crest!"

"Yeah, uh, maybe next time." Claude sighed. "I'm way too winded to try that again, even for practice."

"Aw. I was just getting warmed up." Raphael pouted.

"Sorry bud. Like I said, maybe next time. It actually wouldn't be a bad idea to work on my endurance, so I can do this more than once per battle." Claude sat down on a nearby rock and gulped water from his flask. Once his tongue wasn't dry anymore, he glanced towards Byleth and Sothis.

"Well? What did you think? Impressive, right?"

"Very." Byleth nodded. Beside her, the ever-present girl with wings also nodded, although her pensive expression indicated that there was something else on her mind.

"So this is the power of a Hero's Relic…" Sothis murmured to herself. "It's supposed to be one of the many gifts from the Goddess, and yet, if I really am her, I don't remember ever giving out such a boon."

_"You don't remember a lot of things."_ Byleth reminded her. On his rock, Claude watched Sothis with visible interest. He of course couldn't add to the conversation without looking weird.

"Hmph! I'm well aware of our amnesia, thank you very much!" Sothis retorted. "But this feels different than lost memories. I really do think that I have never seen a Hero's Relic before."

Claude made a noise that vaguely sounded like a 'huh'. Byleth simply nodded, having no choice but to believe her. Once she had an idea in her head, it wasn't possible to convince Sothis otherwise.

Speaking of ideas, Byleth had one of her own that she wanted to share. "Claude, if I have a Crest, do you think I have a Hero's Relic like yours?"

"Hm. I wouldn't say there's definitely one out there for you." Claude shrugged. "Some Crests don't have correlating Relics. In fact, only the Crests of the 10 Heroes have them, and not all Relics are weapons. I know at least one of them is a shield and another is an amulet."

"Wait, I didn't know Byleth has a Crest!" Raphael interrupted them in his usual booming voice. "I want to see it!"

"Uh." Byleth stuttered as she faced Raphael. She firstly didn't expect him to be so enthusiastic about the notion, and secondly didn't know how to show it off. Not like Claude, anyway.

Claude chuckled as he leaned forward with interest. "Now there's an idea. Byleth, how about you spar with Raphael? There's nothing like a good fight to get your blood pumping and to rouse your Crest."

"Yeah! It'll be fun! And I'll be sure to go easy on a beginner like you!" Raphael added cheerily.

Admittedly, Byleth didn't oppose the idea. After watching Claude's and Raphael's one-sided spar, her wings and talons were itching to get moving too. The only problem was that she wasn't sure if her Crest would activate from this exercise. She didn't know what it would do or how it would even feel.

Sothis apparently shared some of her apprehension. "But who's to say that our Crest will display itself during combat? It never did when we fought against Those Who Slither in the Dark."

"And even if your Crest doesn't work that way," Claude kept talking, if only to answer Sothis indirectly, "maybe we can find what exactly triggers your future vision. Is it only in life-threatening situations, or whenever it's convenient?"

Byleth hummed as she shifted her gaze towards Raphael. "If I can use my Crest or see the future, it won't be a fair fight for you…"

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about that!" Raphael replied with a grin. "That just means I gotta work harder to beat you!"

"This man has a simple mindset, doesn't he?" Sothis whispered so only Byleth could hear her. "But I must admit it's an admirable one. If only life's problems could be solved with enough effort and willpower!"

Since the three of them were already in a meadow far from prying eyes, Byleth didn't hesitate to shed her lengthy robes. The warm sunlight on her skin and the gentle breeze through her feathers made her want to take to the skies and fly away, but she forced herself to stay put for now. Claude suggested that they practiced grounded combat at first, so Byleth would be challenged enough to use her Crest and Raphael wouldn't get overwhelmed by a flying foe. He also promised that if all went well, Byleth could go all out against him, even though she frowned at that thought. As tempting as the skies were, she didn't want to use them to hurt a friend.

Claude took her robes for safekeeping, allowing Byleth to preen her feathers. She only applied enough oil to make them rigid, not razor-sharp. She then allowed Claude to wrap some thin cloth around her talons so that she wouldn't puncture skin if she grabbed or slashed at someone. Byleth still had to be careful with them though, because the cloth could still break if she fought too roughly.

Raphael was already raring to go by the time she finished her preparations. Byleth held up her wings and slipped into a stance taught by her human friend. The battle in the underground lair of Those Who Slither in the Dark awakened some of her once-forgotten training, but she still felt a bit hesitant. Raphael was nothing like the goons they fought down there. He was incredibly strong, and a good man. Byleth would have to put up enough of a fight while tempering her predatory instincts. It wasn’t an easy balance to accomplish, that was for certain.

The sparring match began in an instant. Raphael charged at her first, his fists flying towards her with blinding speed. Byleth dodged what she could and blocked the rest with her wings. She quickly found out that parrying his blows wasn’t an option. Each forceful impact sent shockwaves through her body and threatened to snap her feathers. His fists weren’t like swords or daggers that deflected off her stiffened wings. They were like hammers, swung with enough strength to smash through her defenses.

Avoiding his punches wasn’t a simple task either. Raphael was a much fiercer fighter than she expected. Despite her unusual grace on the ground (for a harpy, according to Claude), she couldn’t keep up with someone who was born and bound to the land, especially when all instincts screamed at her to forgo Claude’s rules and fly away from Raphael. It only took one lapse in Byleth’s defense, one solid hit to her chest, to knock her flat on her back.

“Byleth!” Claude jumped up from his seat. If his hat was off, she would probably see his feathered crests sticking straight up.

“Ah, geez! I didn’t mean to punch you that hard! Are you alright?” Whatever fighting spirit Raphael had left flickered away when he held a hand out for her. 

“I’m fine.” She took it and, with his help, stood back up. Her chestplate shielded her from the worst of the blow, but she was sure that she would have a nasty bruise there later. Unless she could heal herself…?

“I wouldn’t count on it, hatchling.” Sothis answered her unspoken question. “White magic usually cannot heal the caster. That’s just how it works.”

Claude let out a sigh of relief as he sat back down. “Weathering a punch from Raphael like that is something to be thankful for. By the way, how did you feel about your sparring match?” 

When Byleth glanced his way, she noticed how his expression wasn’t as bright as before. Like he was disappointed with how short the fight was? Or maybe because she didn’t activate her Crest like he thought she would? Either way, she hung her head in shame.

“It... could have gone better.” She admitted. 

“Aw, chin up.” Claude flashed a brief smile. “You lasted a lot longer than other harpies would have. And good ol’ Raphael is one of the toughest brawlers in the Leicester Alliance. Even I would’ve lost against him in a toe-to-toe fight.”

“Shucks, Claude! You’re making me blush!” The praised fighter rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. 

“So you didn’t feel your Crest at all during the spar? And your future vision didn’t trigger either?” Claude continued on.

Byleth replied by shaking her head. Although Claude tried to hide his disappointment, it was still apparent in his voice. “Ah well. It can be tough to figure out your own powers. Do you want to have another go at Raphael though? This time, you can fly around as much as you’d like.”

“Yeah! I’m ready whenever you are!” Raphael beamed at her.

“I guess I can try again.” She mumbled as she took her position once more. Now that she got a taste of battle, Byleth was more determined than ever to win against Raphael. Not just to wash away the bitterness of defeat, but to also prove to herself that she was capable of standing on her own. 

The second round kicked off just as quickly as the first. Like last time, Raphael lunged at Byleth startlingly fast. Unlike last time, Byleth flapped her wings and flew up and over his fists. He stumbled as he punched at nothing but air. Sensing the opportunity to strike, she dove down and latched her feet on his shoulders. Her talons failed to pierce his shirt, thanks to the cloth wrapped around them, but Raphael yelped in pain anyway. She would have lifted him off the ground and then dropped him, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pick up Raphael. He was so much heavier than other people she fought against. Byleth instead resorted to beating Raphael over the head with her wings. Raphael’s pained shouts turned into grunts as her feathers smacked his mouth repeatedly. Any attempt to dislodge Byleth from his shoulders failed, as she could avoid his wild flailing without much difficulty. Finally, he resorted to falling on his back, but she took off before she got trapped under that mountain of muscle.

Raphael’s fall would’ve been the end of the fight, but he pushed himself back up in record time. Not only that, he sprinted towards Byleth, obviously keen on continuing the spar for as long as he was able. Byleth deftly maneuvered around his punch, and the next. The two of them traded blows, and Byleth’s heart quickened every time she landed a hit. The same rush of energy that fueled her duel against Kronya and other Slitherers energized her now, urging her to strike at crippling weak points like the eyes and neck, but Byleth immediately clamped down on those feelings before they overwhelmed her. Raphael wasn’t an enemy, nor prey. He was a friend, and this was only a test of their abilities, not a fight to the death.

To give him some credit, he did his best to adapt against a flying foe. He guarded himself in a way that made it difficult to grab him again, and he figured out where his punches would meet Byleth’s erratic movements. But there were still too many angles an airborne enemy could attack him at. Eventually, her claws and wings took their toll on him. After one last jab to his side, he fell down on one knee and didn’t get back up.

“Ugh. That’s enough! I give!” Raphael panted out. 

“Wow, you did a lot better this time.” Claude grinned. “I guess it’s to be expected when you aren’t holding yourself back, but I still wouldn’t want to get on your bad side!”

He let out a short laugh at his own joke. “Anyway, did you feel anything this time?”

“No.” Byleth replied. She supposed that if Crests only flared up under stress, she wouldn’t have been able to activate it while she was winning against Raphael. But it also didn’t show up when she was forced to fight on the ground. What was the key to this thing?

Claude looked just as perplexed as Byleth. He held a hand under his cheek and tapped a finger against his cheek for a few seconds, only to pull them away as he sighed. “Oh well. Maybe it is a Crest that can’t be triggered through combat. Let’s not put Raphael through more torment for its sake.”

Byleth couldn’t help but deflate upon hearing that. She didn’t want to stop fighting, not while her blood still buzzed in her veins and her heart still pounded in her chest. More than that, she felt like she was on the verge of something. She didn’t know if she was close to discovering how her Crest or future vision worked, but she couldn’t give up yet.

“What if I fought you?” Byleth asked Claude abruptly. 

His head jerked up just as suddenly. “Huh? Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine.” Byleth nodded. “Are you?”

“I got enough rest after my trick with Failnaught, but that’s not what I'm worried about. You don’t have to push yourself so hard to figure out your Crest or your future vision. We can sort this out another day.”

“Hmph. Sounds like to me you just don’t want to be beaten by Byleth.” Sothis crossed her arms. 

“I’m not afraid of that!” Claude retorted. Then, after receiving a quizzical look from Raphael, he cleared his throat. “What I’m more concerned about is accidentally hurting you. You can probably guess this yourself, but I’ll put up more of a fight than Raphael. You already got punched in the chest by him. I don’t want to give you anymore bruises for something as finicky as a Crest.”

Even though she knew he meant well, Byleth remained adamant in her insistence. She had to be, thanks to a nagging thought that clung to her ever since the meeting with Lysithea.

“Please. I need to do this.” She said defiantly. “Everyone has done so much to keep me safe. I can’t just stand around and let you protect me. I don’t-”

Something got caught in her throat. She pushed it back down to keep talking. “I don’t want anyone else to die for me, while all I can do is watch helplessly. If I'm part of the Golden Deer, not only do I need to be able to defend myself, I need to be able to fight alongside everyone too. And to do that, I need to know what I’m capable of. Earning a few bruises is nothing compared to losing someone I care about again.”

Byleth's words were met with silence. The only sound was a gentle breeze that stirred the grassy field. She didn't need to tell Claude who exactly she was referring to. She didn't need to tell him that when he promised earlier to keep her safe, no matter what, she didn't feel reassured in the slightest. She didn't need to tell him that her singular thought, at that time, was the memory of a man getting stabbed in the back. Judging from the pondering look on his face, she said all that she needed to say. 

Claude sighed and straightened his wolf cap. “I’m sorry, Byleth. I should've known that you were made of stronger stuff. You don't need me to baby you."

She gave him a shrug of her shoulders. “I appreciate your concern, but this is something I have to do.”

“I get it. I’ll spar with you.” Claude got up from his rock and stretched his limbs. “Now, I can’t fight unarmed as well as Raphael can, so I hope you don’t mind if I wield Failnaught for this. Don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot you down or use my Crest to dodge your attacks or anything like that.”

“What _are_ you going to do with it then?” Sothis continued to stare at Claude. 

He only shot her a stealthy wink as he twirled Failnaught around. Even when he wasn’t actively using it, the strange-looking weapon still glowed a brilliant orange. Byleth had to admit that the prospect of fighting against it unsettled her. It was something supposedly created by the Goddess, and had the power to match that claim, yet Sothis never saw it before. She had amnesia as a credible excuse, but something still felt off about it…

“Whenever you’re ready.” Claude announced. The way he stretched himself would have led Byleth to think he wasn’t taking this spar seriously, but she knew him better than that. She wasn’t going to get fooled into dropping her guard.

And yet, she did what Claude suggested and made the first move. Byleth took off, soared into the sky, then dove down with her talons outstretched. Claude was watching her all the while, but didn’t make a move until the last possible second. To her amazement, he swung Failnaught so that her talons gripped it instead of his shoulders. While she was still in shock, he swung his bow again to shake Byleth off. She was thrown back a few feet, but remained in the air and ready to strike again.

But no matter how she charged in, Claude seemed to predict her moves and react accordingly every time. Either he blocked her talons or wings with Failnaught, or he stepped around her attacks. He never countered with any actual blows, but his dodgy maneuvers were enough to keep him safe and to aggravate her. Actually, it wasn’t just his evasion that frustrated her. It was also the faint smile on Claude’s face, a smile that teased her about her inability to land a hit.

She couldn’t stand it. For once, she sought to drive away that smile and to be taken seriously. Each time she was thwarted, Byleth lashed out more ferociously. And each time she lashed out, Claude blocked or avoided her again. This lively dance continued on for a while longer, until one of Failnaught’s spikes stabbed her wing and threw off her balance. Luckily, her feathers remained intact, but Byleth was forced to land on her feet. Immediately afterwards, she held up her wings in case Claude chose to use this moment to attack. But he didn’t. He stood there, several yards between them, and regarded her with a curious look.

“Are you done yet?” He asked in a coy voice.

Byleth responded not with words, but with a mad dash towards him. She flapped her wings once or twice to gain speed, but her feet were still firmly planted on the ground when she swung her limbs. Her primary feathers clashed against Failnaught, as expected. She didn’t let that failed attempt deter her, however. She pulled her wings back, then struck again, and again. When she was in the air, she let her predatory instincts guide her actions. But now that she was on land, her movements were based on training ingrained in her long ago. And surprisingly, Claude had a tougher time against her furious assault. His Failnaught didn’t block her wings as quickly, his feet fumbled a bit more, and his casual smirk had long vanished from his face. 

“You can do it, Byleth!” Raphael cheered her on from the sidelines. 

“Don’t let the mockingbird beat you!” Sothis hollered from beside him.

Their encouragement was just the thing she needed to forge ahead. In a decidedly reckless move, she used both wings to slash at Claude, one after another, in an X-shaped pattern. Although Claude dodged the first swipe, a strange symbol flashed over her chest as her second wing bore down on him. He raised Failnaught to shield himself once more, but with a surge of fire roaring in her veins, Byleth smote it right out of his hands. His eyes widened as Byleth jumped on him, shoved him into the dirt, and pinned down both of his arms with her talons. During his fall, Claude’s hat tumbled away, revealing his feathers to the world once again.

Green eyes met cyan ones above him as both combatants gasped for breath. She realized that she never really stared this deeply into his eyes before. They still gleamed in a captivating way, even as Claude was sprawled out before her.

“Are you done yet?” Byleth asked just as coyly as Claude did before.

Claude, unexpectedly, didn't respond back. She wondered if she accidentally injured him, but suddenly, a small burst of heat exploded against her side. Byleth fluttered back, letting go of Claude in the process. Sparks of fire briefly floated around his fingers before dissipating. His Fire spell was too weak to leave any marks, but the sheer surprise provided Claude with the opening he needed. Without any sort of warning, Claude tackled her to the ground. Now he was the one on top, and held a dagger close to her throat to boot.

Strangely, it wasn't the cold blade that concerned her, but Claude's expression. His smirk had faded from view, leaving behind wide eyes with dilated pupils and parted lips as he panted heavily. The half-harpy man that usually hid his emotions with an easy-going facade now looked… terrified? 

That fear was soon replaced with furrowed eyebrows, a tight frown, and a quick shake of his head. He pulled himself away from Byleth as quickly as he leaped on her. After tucking his dagger back to its hiding place, he held out his unarmed hand to help Byleth back up. She took it without hesitation.

“Wow, Claude. I knew you were prepared for everything, but did you need to use your dagger against Byleth? It’s just a spar!” Raphael strolled over with a concerned expression.

“Yeah, I know I went overboard. Sorry for scaring you like that. Guess my reflexes are too good.” With a flash of an apologetic smile, Claude was back to his carefree persona. He bent down to grab his fallen hat and threw it back over his feathers.

“It’s alright. I knew you wouldn’t hurt me.” Byleth said in a matter-of-fact tone. She only really stopped to think about her reply when Claude’s smile faltered. It was an odd reassurance to give him, when he pulled a real dagger on her, but it was truly how she felt.

Raphael seemed to share that sentiment, because his worried look was replaced by his usual jolly one. “Even with the whole dagger thing, that was the most intense fight I’ve ever watched! And I’ve seen a lot of people fight! Claude, how did you hold your own against Byleth in the beginning? While I sparred against Byleth, she flew at me so fast, I couldn’t hit her! Punching her was like trying to punch a bird!”

“It helped that I watched Byleth before facing her myself. But also, I had a lot of practice fighting against harpies.” Claude answered with some amusement. Byleth thought he was going to elaborate, but he just left it at that. The rest of his response must have to do with his traumatic past in Almyra, so it was no wonder he didn’t want to explain anything.

He directed his gaze, and his next words, to Byleth. “Your airborne style is actually a lot like how most untrained harpies fight. They rely on their speed and ferocity to win, and nothing else. Against someone unused to harpies, that would be enough to net you a win. But against someone more experienced like me, your movements were predictable, down to how you would react if I ticked you off.”

Byleth stared back at Claude, some parts confused, some parts embarrassed, and all parts flustered. Was she really that predictable? She supposed that her victory against Raphael left her unprepared against a foe that knew what he was doing.

“However, the swordsman-like style that your human friend taught you was a lot harder to counter.” Claude continued on, the amusement in his voice growing. “It’s unlike anything I’ve faced before. Since I didn’t have a real weapon, I couldn’t really fight back. And you managed to activate your Crest! Good job!”

“I did?” Byleth blinked. She wasn’t even aware of that. She glanced towards Sothis for any hint. Upon making eye contact, the youthful spirit groaned and pressed a hand against her face.

“You didn’t notice the flash of light when you smacked Failnaught away from Claude? That was our Crest! I’m certain of it! It was shaped like the symbol on my clothes and from Lysithea’s Crest detector!”

“Yeah.” Claude tilted his head in Sothis’s general direction, a subtle way of agreeing with what she said. “And I was on the receiving end of it. Almost felt like my arms were going to get yanked out of their sockets. Do you remember how it felt?”

Byleth struggled to come up with a decent description. Their spar moved so quickly, it was difficult to recall any particular scene of it. She had to close her eyes and focus on that exact moment when she struck Claude’s bow out of his hands.

“It felt like… a fire.” She opened her eyes back open. "Oh. And the spot where Raphael punched me doesn't hurt anymore."

“Huh. Your fiery feeling isn't too surprising, because that’s what my Crest feels like too. But are you saying that your Crest healed you too? What else did it feel like? If there's anything else?” Claude stared at her with a bewildered expression.

Byleth closed her eyes again. There was a fire, but she slowly realized it wasn’t a simple fire. It burned with an unfathomable kind of energy that her own body shouldn’t be able to contain, raw power that both frightened her and attracted her. It would reduce her to ashes if she flew too close, but she couldn’t help but court it all the same. 

“It’s the fire found in the sun and stars. It’s the ember of life found within all living creatures. It’s the primal blaze that warms the earth itself.” Sothis voiced Byleth’s feelings more poetically than the harpy would ever be able to manage. “It’s the flame that has burned since the beginning… The Crest of Flames.”

“What, now you just remembered its name?!” Claude exclaimed out loud. 

“Whaddya talking about?” Raphael yelled in an equally startled tone.

Claude swore under his breath as he shook his head. In between shakes, he glared at Sothis in a way that hinted he wanted to talk about this later. “Nothing. I just was thinking of something else."

He paused for a split second to recollect himself. "Anyway, Byleth, hold onto that feeling of, uh, flames. Remembering it will make it easier to use your Crest.”

Byleth nodded slightly. As intimidating as her Crest of Flames was, she still wanted to learn how to control it. It was a part of her, as much as her wings and talons. It wasn’t something to shy away from, especially with what the future might bring. 

“And one other thing.” Claude snapped her out of her thoughts. “Did you get any visions of the future during our match?”

“No.” She denied once more. As that single word left her lips, she suddenly realized why she wasn’t able to activate the other side of her power on command. It was such a simple reason, she wondered why she or Sothis hadn’t come to this conclusion before. 

“Actually...” Her utterance drew Claude’s stare. “I figured out why it won’t activate. I only catch glimpses of the future if I or someone close to me is about to die. It’s like… a last-minute warning to alter the flow of time, before it’s too late.”

Claude gawked at her incredulously, like he didn’t believe what she said at first. “That’s… huh. That makes sense, but that also raises a lot more questions. Like, why is it so restrictive? The power of a time spirit or a Goddess should be boundless. And why does it only work for you or people close to you, and not everyone else...?”

He turned away as he mumbled to himself. He must have been so deep in thought, he forgot that Raphael was still here. Or he didn’t mind talking out loud in front of him, because the other man wouldn’t understand anyway.

However, there was one thing he didn’t say that was at the forefront of Byleth’s mind.

“It didn’t activate in my fight against you and Raphael because I knew neither of you wouldn’t try to kill me. I trusted you.”

Claude flinched as if he was physically struck. Raphael, on the other hand, let out a hearty laugh. “Well yeah! Of course none of us will kill you! You’re our friend!”

“Yeah. Of course not.” Claude agreed after a moment’s pause. “But still… I don’t think you should rely on your visions to keep you safe.”

Byleth cocked her head a bit while Sothis asked her question in her stead. “Hm? Weren't you wondering how they activated in the first place?”

“I meant what I said earlier.” Claude replied back without even glancing Sothis’s way. “You need to know about yourself as much as possible. But at the same time, I don’t want you to place your faith in the wrong people, and then wait until you have a vision before breaking off the relationship. People can hurt you long before they try to kill you.”

Ah. As touching as his concern was, Byleth wondered if some of it stemmed from his earlier feelings. Her mind flashed back to their conversation over tea, when Claude questioned if he deserved her trust. And when she combined those words with the image of Claude’s fear, and his dagger over her throat…

It was a good thing that only Byleth and Claude could hear Sothis, because she wasn’t afraid to state what neither of them wanted to say out loud. “Bold of you to admit that, mockingbird, when we’re only still here because Byleth placed her faith in you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know I’m being hypocritical.” Claude waved a hand at Sothis, which phased right through her. “I know that trusting people can be a good thing, but there can also be too much of a good thing. Like, you’ll get a stomach ache if you eat too much food, Right, Raphael?”

“Huh?” Raphael blinked. Judging from how unfocused his gaze was, this discussion had gone over his head a long time ago, and he only came back to reality now. He still vigorously nodded though. “Yeah! Stomach aches are the worst! You gotta prevent them by exercising just as much as you eat!”

“See? Life’s all about maintaining a balance. Thanks, Raphael. I knew we saw eye-to-eye.” Claude winked.

“That wasn’t the point I was trying to make!” Sothis’s wings flared up, only to relax once she thought more about his metaphor. “Although, I suppose I see what you’re saying… Byleth can be too trusting at times, while you have the opposite problem. You don’t trust people enough. Maybe that’s why you two make a good team.”

A flicker of astonishment crossed Claude’s face. Byleth, meanwhile, remained unfazed. “I understand too. I’ll be more careful, then.” 

She didn’t want to think of her trusting and optimistic as a character flaw, but she understood why Claude would get worried about her. And just like how Claude vowed to be more open about himself, Byleth should try to be more wary of her surroundings, people included. She knew full well how many evildoers were after her, and how many more would simply kill her for being the wrong species. Her Crest, and its almost-godlike powers, wouldn’t save her or the people she loved every time. After all, her human friend still died at the hands of an assassin…

“Good. Thank you.” Claude sounded more relieved than anything. “I didn’t mean to be a downer, but some things had to be said.”

“And besides, you don’t have much to worry that much! Not with me and the rest of your friends around!"

Before either of them could react, Raphael wrapped his arms around both Claude and Byleth. The former yelped indignantly, while the latter only blinked in surprise. Sothis, who wasn’t caught in his embrace, snickered at the embarrassing sight.

“Erk! Yeah. That’s right.” Claude squeaked out. He gently clawed at Raphael’s arms to get him to let go.

“I feel safer already.” Byleth mumbled into Raphael’s chest. Despite her deadpan voice, she was being completely sincere. She didn’t see any reason to keep her guard up around the likes of Raphael and Claude, even when considering the conversation they just had. As far as she was concerned, they deserved every ounce of her trust, and she was more determined than ever to keep them safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon Byleth as fightsexual and the fact that she's a harpy in this fic doesn't change that~


	33. A Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byleth was supposed to enjoy some time with Marianne and Hilda, but ends up enduring an awkward conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I'm not dead! The holidays were just busy for me and my beta reader and this chapter was particularly tough to work through. Hope it was worth the wait though. The next few chapters are almost ready to go too, so there shouldn't be another lengthy hiatus, at least for a while.

Byleth decided that she liked pegasi, even though they weren’t exactly fond of her.

Marianne, sensing her desire to befriend them, tried her best to calm the pegasi while Byleth was with them. The gentle miracle worker was successful to some extent. Most pegasi no longer recoiled or tried to bite Byleth’s feathers when she reached out a wing talon. But they still wouldn’t let her touch them for very long. In fact, the only pegasus that tolerated excessive headpats from a harpy was Marianne’s personal mount, Sigune.

“I wouldn’t take it personally if I were you.” Sothis remarked after one of the other pegasi whinnied harshly at Byleth. “Harpies are a natural predator of pegasi. Even though these tamed pegasi have probably never encountered a harpy before, their survival instincts still persist.”

Byleth eyed the latest pegasus to reject her. The thought of eating one never crossed her mind, but now that Sothis mentioned it, she wasn’t opposed to the idea. They were basically deer with wings, weren’t they?

Those weren’t the kinds of thoughts she should entertain in the stables. She instead focused on the one pegasus that wouldn’t shun her company while Marianne attended to everyone else. Although there were a few other black pegasi here, Sigune instantly distinguished herself with a white streak on her muzzle and her friendliness towards Byleth. As soon as she entered her stall, Sigune trotted over and greeted her with a soft nicker.

Not only did Sigune allow Byleth to pat her, she also didn’t mind it if the harpy combed her mane or even preened her wings with a bottle of pegasus preening oil. It seemed odd that Sigune was so docile around her natural predator, but the task somehow relaxed both involved parties, so Byleth just kept going. She supposed that the actual preening motions were soothing, and came with the added bonus of helping a fellow feathered friend out. 

Too bad there wasn’t anyone else Byleth could preen. Except maybe Claude? Ever since the bath incident, Claude helped Byleth with her feathers one or two other times, but after she found out about his feathers, she hadn’t had the chance to ask if she could do the same for him. She couldn’t help but wonder what they would feel like...

“How is Sigune doing?” Marianne’s voice brought her back to reality. 

“She’s doing good.” Byleth replied without looking up from a particularly stubborn primary feather. 

Marianne apparently noticed her struggle. “Do you, um, want me to help you with that?”

Byleth shrugged, but gave her the pegasus preening oil and backed off. Marianne fixed the problem with expertise of someone with their own feathers. It was surprising to see someone as adept at preening as Claude, but it made sense. Marianne was basically the caretaker of all animals in the estate, both feathered or not. 

As soon as she was done, she gently stroked Sigune’s neck. “There. Doesn’t that feel better?” Her pegasus responded by nuzzling the top of her head.

“Thanks for helping me.” Byleth mentioned as well.

“You’re welcome.” Marianne offered a sweet smile. “I’m glad that you two are becoming fast friends. And please, don’t be discouraged by the other pegasi here. They’ll fall in line eventually.”

Byleth had doubts that she ended up voicing out loud. “I wouldn’t be sure of that. Do you know that harpies hunt pegasi in the wild? It’s no wonder that they don’t like me.”

“Oh, um, I might have read something like that before.” Marianne admitted. “But once they figure out that you mean them no harm, they’ll accept you as one of their own soon enough.”

Byleth had her doubts, but she didn’t bother voicing them out loud. If humans, as smart as they were, had difficulties when dealing with harpies, then what hope did a simple-minded pegasus have? Still, maybe she shouldn’t be so hard on either species. For every intolerant human and pegasus, there was a Marianne and Sigune.

Her heavy thoughts slowed down the preening process. Fortunately, Marianne helped her with the rest of Sigune’s feathers, but her mind still whirled with many memories. Byleth recalled her first meeting with the kind-hearted woman, way back when her wing was broken. She had done her best to heal it and learned who Byleth really was in the process. Yet, she didn’t panic or turn against the harpy. She even helped her get back inside the aviary, where Claude would return to her. There was something she said back then that she didn’t understand, and now would be a good time to ask her what those profound words meant.

“Marianne?” Byleth piped up.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember when we first met? You told me you were treated like a monster just for being yourself. What did you mean by that?”

She remained wordless for a solid moment. When she spoke up again, it was barely above a whisper.

“Not many people know this, but... I have a Crest called the Crest of the Beast. It’s said to inflict misfortune on everyone close to its bearer, and will eventually turn its bearer into a mindless beast.”

Byleth turned towards her with wide eyes. Of all the things she could have guessed, a cursed Crest was not one of them.

If Marianne noticed her surprised expression, she didn’t show it. “For many years, I was shunned and hated. To save myself from further heartbreak, I preemptively shied away from others, even those that have yet to judge me and my Crest. But it still wasn’t enough. Things got so bad, I prayed to the Goddess to take me away. I might have… lost myself if it weren’t for Claude, Hilda, and the other Golden Deer. They supported me through my darkest hours. They even went so far as to help me vanquish the Wandering Beast that was purportedly the source of my Crest’s curse. 

“To repay my friends for all the kindness they’ve shown me, I strive to aid them however I can. And then when I saw you, I couldn’t treat you the same way that others treated me in the past. I know what the Church of the Goddess says about harpies, but I… don’t think it’s right. I think the Goddess would want everyone to be loved, from those with a cursed Crest to those with wings and talons.”

The stables fell silent, save for the occasional snorts and movements from its inhabitants. Having read many books on the subject, Byleth was well aware of the Church’s creed against harpies and how that creed colored people’s view of harpies. But here was Marianne, one of the Goddess’s most devout followers, and she accepted Byleth for who she was. More than that, she helped her out of her most dire situations, and defended her from those that weren’t as tolerant yet. If there was anyone that emplified the Goddess’s boundless love, it was Marianne, doctrine be damned.

“... I don’t know if I told you this yet, but thank you.” Byleth murmured. “For all that you’ve done for me.”

“Oh. I don’t think doing the right thing needed thanks, but… you’re welcome.” Marianne whispered back. Although she didn’t say much else, the small smile on her face told the harpy all she needed to know.

The two women finished preening Sigune right before they were interrupted by running footsteps and a loud ‘Mariaaaane!’ Although Byleth wore her extra-long robes as a precaution against surprises like these, her feathers still stood on their ends whenever a human took her off guard. At least it was only Hilda this time.

“Hilda? Why are you in a hurry? Is there something wrong?” Marianne asked in a concerned tone.

Hilda took a moment to catch her breath. “Yeah, there’s something wrong! Have you  _ seen _ all those ridiculous hats Claude wears? I even noticed him with a wolf cap today! A wolf cap! Where does he even get something like that?!”

“I like the wolf cap.” Byleth piped up.

“Huh? Oh, didn’t realize you were here too.” Hilda shot a bewildered glance towards Byleth before turning back to Marianne. “But even so, we need to put a stop to Claude’s crimes against fashion before it's too late!”

“Um… ok?” Marianne agreed hesitantly. "I’m guessing with how you ran all the way over here, we have to do something now...?"

"Exactly! To start with, which color would look best on him? Brown or black?"

Both Marianne and Byleth blinked in tandem. Hilda pulled out two slightly different hats out of her bag, but that seemingly random action only raised more questions.

"Guys, isn't it obvious what I'm doing?" Hilda waved the hats around as if they explained everything. "I'm making a hat for Claude! A  _ nice _ hat! Goddess knows he needs one."

"Oh.” Marianne uttered. “Those are nice hats. But they also look a bit… plain?”

“Hey, I’m going to decorate them later. I’m just figuring out which hat to use as a base.”

“Well, in that case, uh…" Marianne glanced between the two hats, trying to choose one but obviously failing. Byleth hardly knew much about human fashion, but when she imagined either hats on Claude, the answer was clear to her.

"Do you have a dark green hat?" She suggested without prompting..

"Dark green?" Hilda squinted at Byleth, then at her black and brown hats. "I might have one, yeah, but… huh. I never really considered that kind of color on Claude. For a harpy, you have a good eye for fashion."

Byleth chose to take that as a compliment. She thought that was all, but then Hilda’s face lit up as an interesting idea dawned on her.

“You know, Claude’s going to need more than one hat. Now, I can’t spend all day making hats, but if the two of you were to help me, then we would definitely get somewhere. What do you guys say? It beats mucking the stables or whatever you were doing here.”

Byleth perked up at the suggestion, only to deflate when she realized that she had no clue how to decorate a hat. She might have a vague idea of how she wanted it to look, but how was she going to put it together? Her wing talons could very easily tear into the soft fabric.

Thankfully, Marianne had similar concerns. "I don't know if we'll be of much help. Neither of us can sew or craft as well as you."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Hilda laughed. "These hats are pretty forgiving. The fabric doesn't ruin easily and they can hide lots of mistakes! And even if you don't want to try making anything yourself, you can still give me your opinions!"

Marianne nodded, somewhat swayed by her friend's words, but Byleth had another question on her mind. "Does Claude need that many hats? Once Lysithea finishes the ring, he won't have to wear them." Byleth pointed out.

Hilda paused for a moment, her face briefly looking contemplative before reverting back to her usual bubbly demeanor. "That may be true, but what if the ring isn't finished in time? And what's he going to wear in the meantime? It doesn't hurt to have a few extra hats, just in case."

It was hard to argue against that logic. When no one offered any rebuttal, Hilda grinned. "Great! Let's go to my room! It's probably the only place where a harpy can make a hat in peace…"

Before she knew it, Byleth wound up in the aforementioned bedroom. Hilda's room was surprisingly tidy for someone whose mouth raced a mile a minute, but all that changed when she started pulling out supplies for hat decorating. Fancy ribbons, scraps of brightly colored cloth, glittering gemstones, ornate metal clasps… Hilda brought out so much stuff, Byleth didn't even know where to begin. And on top of that, she didn't think this get-together was complete without drinks and snacks. While Byleth rifled through the shiny baubles, Hilda prepared some tea and cookies, with the very explicit warning not to get a mess on the hats.

As she went through the box of materials for the hat, Byleth's talons got caught in some lace that she accidentally ripped apart while trying to free herself. Fortunately, Hilda had her back turned and didn't personally witness anything, so Byleth shoved the broken piece elsewhere. 

That accident convinced her to leave the decorating to the humans. She was perfectly content with eating the provided snacks, watching Hilda and Marianne work, and occasionally giving advice when prompted. However, despite her reluctance, Hilda still managed to find and give Byleth a dark green hat like she suggested, in case she changed her mind later.

Sothis had retreated from reality to take a nap, leaving Hilda as the sole conversation-maker. Her rapid-fire chatter wasn’t unwelcome though. Sure, their hat and tea party dragged on for much longer than it should, but Byleth didn’t mind spending more time here. In fact, she was relieved that her harpy-ness didn’t put a damper on Hilda’s spirits. The pink-haired woman belonged to a family that fought harpies regularly, so she wouldn’t have held any unease against her. But instead of skirting around the issue, Hilda spoke almost exclusively about them.

“So, Byleth.” Hilda didn’t look up from the gold ribbon she was attaching to her hat. “How come you wear a chestplate? I thought harpies don’t usually wear clothes.”

“I’ve always worn this. I think.” Byleth replied in her usual monotone voice. 

"Really now?" Hilda looked up with wide eyes. "I guess you wouldn't have any other clothes since coming here. It's a very nice chestplate though. Looks comfortable, sturdy, and stylish, all at the same time!"

Byleth nodded in thanks. Hilda glanced over her, as if she could study said chestplate through her thick robes. Claude helped her repair it after it got damaged in the fight against Those Who Slither in the Dark, but it still had some dinges and wear.

"But don't you get tired of wearing the same thing over and over again? I'm not just talking about your chestplate, by the way. I've only seen you in those robes or in Marianne's dress. Maybe after we finish making hats, we can find some more nice clothes for you."

That sounded nice at first. But as Byleth thought about it further, she found herself reluctant to change clothes. Or to be more specific, her chestplate. 

"I appreciate the thought, but I want to keep my chestplate. It was a gift from my human friend.”

“Oh? If it was a gift, then you don't have to give it up. Although I still think a little variety in your wardrobe would be nice." Hilda smiled. "Who’s your human friend? You’re not talking about Claude, are you?"

"No. He was someone from my past." Byleth answered. “He gave me more than just this chestplate. He taught me how to use a spoon, how to read and write, how to fish… I don’t remember much of him, like his name or what he looked like, but I remember that he was very important to me.”

“I don’t doubt it. It sounds like he practically raised you!” Hilda exclaimed. “I would love to meet the man who can teach a harpy all that.”

Whatever nostalgia Byleth was feeling was quickly washed away by a wave of sadness. “Unfortunately… He’s been dead for five years. Kronya killed him.”

“Oh.” Hilda’s lips formed a small ‘o’ shape. Next to her, Marianne offered up a sympathetic glance. Their once lively conversation faded into a lull. It took a long moment for Hilda to start talking again, but at least she sounded more considerate this time. “Sorry for bringing him up like that. I had no idea what happened to him. At least you got your revenge, am I right?”

Byleth nodded numbly. Eager to get away from this depressing topic, Hilda reached for a sparkly green gemstone and asked how well it matched with her gold ribbon. Byleth didn’t have much of an opinion, but Marianne thought it looked good, which was all the encouragement Hilda needed to fasten it on.

The twintailed woman’s innocuous question branched into more random questions for Byleth, including but not limited to topics such as what kind of food she ate, how she flew, and why she was always ‘licking’ her feathers all the time. Byleth replied to them as best she could, noting that Hilda had stopped working on her hat to talk and to listen. She didn’t mind answering questions about herself, since she too was curious about a great number of things. But as the conversation dragged on and Hilda’s hat laid in her lap, completely forgotten, Byleth couldn’t shake off a strange kind of unease. It kind of felt like Hilda was scrutinizing her, rather than asking these questions out of genuine interest. It didn’t help that Byleth had to keep correcting or challenging Hilda’s preconceived ideas about harpies. She knew that Hilda had a lot of prejudice to work through, but the constant rebuttals wore her out.

“So, you can preen your feathers to make them as sharp as knives, but they aren’t sharp all the time. You just preen them to keep them clean and tidy, so you can fly.” Hilda repeated after the harpy.

“Yes. That about sums it up.”

“Huh. It makes a lot more sense, now that you’ve explained everything.” Hilda’s face gained a pensive look. “I have to say, Byleth, you’re a much better conversationalist than Claude when it comes to harpy stuff! When I tried asking him these same questions, he just teased me or laughed at me! He doesn’t always give me a straight answer like you do.”

Byleth probably could tell why that was, but chose not to mention it to Hilda, mostly because she already had another question on her lips. “Hey, speaking of Claude, do you think he does the same to his feathers?”

“Preen them, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

She found it strange that Hilda would bring this up when she had that errant thought earlier in the day, but it was probably just a coincidence. She tried to imagine how Claude would look while preening himself. His feathers weren’t nearly as long and numerous as hers, so he would definitely take less time to maintain them, but did he need to? He couldn’t fly with them, and then there was the obvious fact that he didn’t keep his feathers until very recently…

“I don’t know if he preens his feathers. When he has them.” Byleth finally admitted.

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” Hilda blurted out apologetically. When she fell silent again, Byeth thought that was the end of that, but was quickly proven wrong a beat later. 

“You know, you’d think that as a half-harpy, Claude would be more harpy-like. But all he has to show are a bunch of feathers. Without them, he looks like a normal person!”

Byleth’s mind flashed back to the other day, when Lysithea said Claude’s Crest was affected by his harpy lineage. That wasn’t something she should tell Hilda though. It would only raise more awkward questions.

Besides, Marianne piped up in her stead. “You think he should be, uh, more harpy-like?”

“I’m not saying he  _ should _ . It’s just kinda weird to me, that’s all.” Hilda shrugged. 

“It doesn’t have to be weird.” Byleth said after she found her voice again. “Besides the obvious, harpies aren’t so different from humans. Why else would I sit here and make hats with you?”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” Hilda pouted slightly. “Claude grew up in a land of harpies and has a harpy dad, so he must have a harpy side that we don’t know about. Like, can he eat raw meat? Did he come from an egg? If he grows his feathers long enough, will he eventually have wings?”

“Hilda! Those aren’t-” Marianne couldn’t finish her though because of her suddenly fierce blush. She had to bury her face in her hands to cover it up.

“What? I’m not the only one wondering about them. Right?” Hilda said unabashedly. “Claude of course would never answer me honestly, but maybe he would be more open around another harpy…?”

The other woman’s pink eyes slowly drifted towards Byleth. She found herself wishing that Sothis was awake. Her background commentary would help her work through her cringing in order to find the right answer. But now, since she was alone, Byleth could only stammer out what she truly thought, without any sort of subtlety.

“He’s never said anything to me. But I’ve never asked him about anything.”

“Why not?” Hilda asked as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “I can tell that he’s pretty close to you, believe it or not. He’d probably reply truthfully to whatever question you have.”

“He and I aren’t that close. For a long time, he was guarded around me too, because harpies can give him just as much grief as humans. I do know one thing though.”

“What’s that?”

Byleth inhaled before she spoke. In some ways, she would be relaying Claude’s precious secret to someone else, so she had to think about her next words carefully. She didn’t want to break his trust in her, but she didn’t know how else Hilda would understand her apprehension towards this whole topic.

“He doesn’t have wings. It’s… not something he likes to talk about, so you shouldn’t ask after it.”

Hilda stared back, deep in thought. She was obviously digesting her words, but whether she empathized with her was another matter entirely. Even so, Byleth continued on.

“And another thing, I don’t automatically know everything about Claude just because I’m a harpy. He doesn’t like to talk much about himself, for reasons besides safety, and I’m ok with that. I don’t need to know all of his secrets to be friends with him.”

Silence permeated the room once more. Byleth wondered if she was too direct, if Hilda would become defensive and react badly. After all, out of everyone in the Golden Deer, she had the biggest reason to hold a grudge against Almyra and harpies. But to her relief, the pink-haired lady of Goneril let out a long sigh instead.

“Fine. I get it. I was just asking...”

Their conversation thankfully shifted back to their original purpose. It didn’t take much longer for Hilda to turn her attention towards Marianne’s dark brown and incomplete hat. Hilda still chatted away amiably, but Byleth noticed a marked difference in tone and the fact that she wasn’t included in the discussion or even looked at nearly as often as before. She couldn’t figure out if her earlier boldness scared her, annoyed her, or had genuinely upsetted her. But regardless, Byleth wished that Hilda didn’t act so frigid towards her now.

To distract herself from such worries, she tried to focus on her hat, but that just bought a new set of doubts. She was at a loss of what to do with it, really. Nothing of Hilda’s materials seemed like anything that would suit Claude. And the worst part was that she didn't know if her judgement of Claude's taste was completely off. Hilda and Marianne, who knew Claude for longer, seemed to have different assumptions of what he liked.

"Look at this, Marianne!" Hilda showed off a small and silver horse pin. "This would be perfect if I was making a hat for you!"

"Yes. It would be." Marianne smiled. "I think it would fit Claude too. He likes horses quite a bit."

"That's true. I guess that comes from being raised in Almyra." Hilda nodded. "It's too bad that I don't also have a wyvern pin. Or a bird pin. I wish I bought more of them from that merchant. They're so adorable…!"

As Hilda proceeded to fasten the horse pin on Marianne’s brown hat, Byleth stared down at her own plain hat. Horses, wyverns, birds, it didn't matter what kind of animal pin Hilda had in stock. Byleth wouldn't have added one, even if she could. It didn't seem like Claude's style to her. But while she was picturing them in her head for the sake of it, a sudden epiphany struck her like a Thunder spell. 

"What about feathers?" She lifted her head to proclaim.

“Feathers? What are you talking about?” Hilda asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Could I add them to my hat?”

Hilda glanced down at the hat in Byleth’s talons, then at Byleth herself. She shook her head so vigorously, her dangling earrings almost got caught in her ponytail. “I wouldn’t. We’re trying to cover up Claude’s feathers, not add to them!”

“But they would look nice.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re safe to use! Besides, I don’t have any feathers. I’m honestly not a fan of wearing them, so I never bothered to collect any.”

Hilda gestured towards her box of stuff, filled to the brim with everything but feathers. That setback didn’t dissuade Byleth from her idea though. As the others went back to their hats, Byleth stared down at her hat, then at the window. If Hilda didn’t have any feathers, then Byleth would have to get her own. And although there were many different sources for them, including herself, there was one that stuck out in her mind.

“I need to go get something. Can I use your window?”

“What?” Hilda blurted out, appearing more confused than ever.

On the flip side, Marianne picked up what she meant right away. “You want to leave? But we’re supposed to watch you.”

“You don’t have to follow me. I’ll be safe in the skies, and I’ll be back soon enough.” Byleth nodded. She honestly doubted that the mole, wherever they were, would be able to reach her while airborne. Nor did they know where her shack in the woods was.

Her self-confidence quelled any further arguments from Marianne and Hilda. The former got up to open the window while Byleth rid herself of her robes. Even though she wasn’t outside yet, the air against skin and feathers felt a lot better than fabric. And then once she actually took to the skies, where the wind cloaked her like a second set of feathers, it was hard for Byleth to think about coming back. She didn’t want to be confined by her clothes again, or be stuck in the same room as Hilda and her probing questions. She was sure the Goneril noblewoman had good intentions, but she couldn’t help but bristle at them. The cold shoulder she got after she tried to defend herself only made matters worse.

Byleth knew she had to return though, in order to finish her hat. The look on Claude’s face when she gave her completed present to him would surely be worth all the trouble. It was that thought that pushed her to descend towards the familiar cabin and soar through its open window. 

Now that she spent most of her free time with the Golden Deer, she didn’t stay in the lonely hut very often. Really, she only came here to retire for the night. The one-eyed crow, Cawde, had started rebuilding his nest in her absence. He lifted his head when the harpy flew in, but didn’t react otherwise. 

Byleth still kept a number of possessions here, including Claude’s letter with one of his feathers pinned through it. The bundle was sitting on the fireplace’s mantle, right where she left it last. As she reached out towards it, a yawn echoed in the back of her mind. Seconds later, Sothis popped into view, her eyes half-lidded from lingering sleepiness. They shot wide open once she realized they weren’t in Hilda’s room, but Byleth’s cabin.

“Hatchling? Why are we here?”

_ “I came here to get material for the hat.” _ Byleth wrapped her wing talons around the roll of parchment.

“You plan to use Claude’s letter? The one that supposedly guarantees us refuge should we need it?” Sothis squinted her eyes. “I don’t think it’s wise to let Hilda or the others know about it.”

_ “I’m not using the letter. I want this.” _ Byleth plucked the feather out. She didn’t know it belonged to Claude when she first received it, but in hindsight, it was rather obvious. This feather was the exact same shade of dark brown as Claude’s other feathers, and displayed its trademark gold sheen when she held it up in the sunlight.

She recalled Claude’s warning at the same time as Sothis, who bothered to repeat it out loud. “Do you remember what he said, hatchling? The letter is worthless without the feather. If you intend to decorate your hat with one, then you can’t ever use the other.”

_ “I remember it well. But I could always ask Claude for another feather. Or…” _

Byleth weighed the letter in her talons. With an enemy spy running around, was it safe to leave behind something so important yet useless? The mole would have a hard time finding it, deep within a forest, but there still was a risk. Furthermore, this letter was meant to be a last resort, in case something happened to Claude. She wasn’t about to let that happen anymore though. Not while she continued to receive her visions of the future, or while the Crest of Flames flowed through her veins. She fought for his life and defied his death once, and she would gladly do it again.

Humming the song of fire under her breath, Byleth conjured a fireball that instantly consumed the letter. She curled her talons to extinguish the flame, then let the ashes drift to the ground. Beside her, a corner of Sothis’s lips quirked upwards into an expectant smile.

“That’s how you feel, hm?” She stated in an amused tone. “If you felt this way earlier, I would have called you brash, but you have grown much since meeting Claude. There is no doubt in my mind that you have the strength to protect him from whatever evil plots await.”

Byleth should have been grateful, but she instead gave Sothis a bewildered look. It was rare to hear such praise from her. Sothis folded her arms and scoffed back. “What? Don’t look at me like that. I can compliment you when you deserve it, can’t I?”

When Byleth didn’t answer, her scoff turned into a heavy sigh. “Anyway, you should hurry back to Marianne and Hilda. You don’t want to make them anxious by tarrying, do you?”

That was something Byleth could agree with. With Claude’s feather in her talons, she took off into the skies once more. 

The flight back to the manor was uneventful. Before Byleth flew back into Hilda’s room, Sothis surveyed the area to make sure the coast was clear. No one else was around, but as she perched on the roof above the open window, whispers from inside made her hesitate. It sounded like Hilda and Marianne were having a conversation without her.

“... And I was trying to be nice to her, really! So why did she have to shut me down like that? It wasn’t like I was insulting her or anything like that!”

A pause, then Marianne’s quiet voice. “Um, are you asking me what I think…?”

“It was actually a rhetorical question, but if you have something to say, then I’m always willing to hear you out.”

“Thank you. It’s just that… your questions were kind of… awkward. Maybe even rude? Don’t take this the wrong way, I know you were trying to make a light conversation. But Byleth didn’t look very comfortable.”

“Ugh! I knew it! She even probably left to get away from me, not to get something for her hat!”

“Oh. Uh, I don’t think she was lying…”

While Byleth listened in, Sothis held a hand against her cheek as she mumbled to herself. “It seems I can’t leave you alone for one minute. Well? What will you do?”

_ “What do you mean?” _ Byleth glanced up at her.

“If Hilda was treating you poorly, then you don’t have to entertain her any longer. Of course, you would have to explain matters to Claude, but he should understand you better than anyone else.”

Truthfully, ditching Hilda was not something that occured to Byleth. Her meager attempts at conversation did frustrate her, but they weren't bad enough to drive Byleth away nor bring Claude into the mix. Especially now that she knew Hilda wasn’t being mean on purpose. She was just really clueless on how to talk to a harpy. Thankfully, Marianne was there to pick up the slack, and not only that…

“So if she comes back, I guess an apology is in order.”

“Yes. That’s a good start. And maybe, um, think about the kind of questions you’re asking?”

“But how am I supposed to know what questions are ok or not? Considering that she’s, well, you know.”

“If it helps… Try not to think of her as a harpy, but as a person. Her species isn’t the only thing about her.”

“But it’s one of the biggest things! It’s not exactly easy to ignore!”

“Even so, you could, um…” Marianne trailed off as she tried to articulate her thoughts. “I mean, if your questions would make  _ you _ uncomfortable if someone were to ask you them, then maybe you should reconsider if you need the answer at all…”

More silence. Byleth didn’t know whether Hilda agreed with Marianne, but she hoped she did. The gap in the conversation lasted for several long seconds before Hilda sighed. “Hmm. I think I get it. Thanks, Marianne. I knew I could count on you.”

“Y-you’re welcome.” Somehow, Hilda’s compliment made Marianne more flustered than anything else she said. “And I’ll be here to help you, if you need me. Please remember that.”

Not only did Byleth have a mediator in Marianne, Hilda sounded sorry already. If she wanted to make amends, Byleth was willing to give her a second chance. Having eavesdropped on them enough, she launched herself off the roof and dove through Hilda’s open window.

“Eek!” Hilda screamed. Her hands curled into fists, then relaxed when she saw who interrupted their private discussion. “Oh, it’s just you. Warn a girl next time you make an entrance like that, won’t you?” 

“Sorry.” Byleth uttered. A look of regret crossed Hilda’s face. She thought that she would be getting that apology already, but the other woman ended up not saying anything else. Byleth didn’t mind that terribly much, though. She couldn’t force anything out of Hilda, so all she could do was wait. 

As soon as Byleth settled down, she quickly preened her wing feathers so they would fold nicely into her robes. One feather, which was already loose from the previous day’s spar, fell off completely. The missing feather didn’t hurt her, nor would it impede her flight, so Byleth just ignored it in favor of putting her clothes back on.

“Did you get what you wanted?” Marianne asked once Byleth was fully clothed.

Byleth nodded and held up Claude’s feather. The two women stared at it with varying degrees of astonishment. Marianne seemed only mildly surprised, while Hilda wore both bewilderment and horror.

“Hey, isn’t that Claude’s feather?” She gasped out.

“It is.” 

“How did you get it?” Marianne wondered out loud. “I can’t imagine he would leave such things lying around…”

“He gave it to me a while ago.” Byleth replied, taking care to not reveal any more than she had to. “I thought it would look nicer on his hat than on a shelf.”

“If he was so secretive about his feathers, why did he give it to you?” Hilda inquired while leaning her head into a hand. “That is, if you got it before you knew he was half-harpy. Actually, on that note, did you not realize that it was a harpy feather?”

The moment those questions left her lips, Hilda bit down on her tongue. Marianne looked like she was about to say something, but held herself back at the last moment. Byleth didn’t mind this round of question as much as the last, mostly because she didn’t know the answer herself. She didn’t really have a good excuse as to why she didn’t recognize it. While she twirled the umber feather in her talons, Sothis peered at it closely.

“Claude’s feathers don’t look or feel exactly the same as normal harpy feathers. Not only that, the shape of this feather indicates that it once was a part of his head crest, a feature you don’t have.” Sothis muttered. “If you didn’t know about his heritage beforehand, there’s nothing that would suggest it was anything but a large, abnormally shaped bird feather.”

Having no other answer, Byleth relayed what Sothis told her to the others. Thankfully, they bought her explanation and didn’t have any more questions for her. She still wouldn’t have been able to tell them why she had one of Claude’s feathers. Now, all she needed to do was attach it to the hat, which was unfortunately easier said than done. Byleth had seen Hilda sew and glue on her decorations but those tasks that were too delicate for her sharp talons. She had no choice but to ask for assistance from an unlikely ally.

“Hilda, could you help me put this on?” Byleth extended both the feather and the hat towards her.

“Hm?” She just stared blankly at the two items, like this was the last thing she expected. However, her bewilderment was replaced by her usual cheeriness soon enough. “Yeah, sure. Where did you want to put the feather?”

“Here.” Byleth pressed the feather against the side of the hat. 

For a moment, the two of them sat in awkward silence. Byleth was still holding out the hat and feather. She had to wave them around to indicate that she wanted Hilda to take them. Hilda didn’t seem to catch on at first, but a second later, she let out a surprised noise and accepted them. She held onto Claude’s feather with two fingers, like it was something gross. Byleth worried that she was going to not help her after all, but to her relief, she got over her disgust, or at least looked like it. With her trademark smile, she demonstrated to Byleth how she sewed the feather’s shaft to the hat. Her stitches were so nice and neat, they blended into the dark green fabric. Yet they were also strong enough to hold the feather in place, even if Hilda tugged on it.

“There. That should do it.” Hilda showed off her work by twirling it in her hands. “How does it look?"

“It looks great. Thank you.” Byleth nodded. 

But apparently, Hilda still wasn’t done with the hat yet. “You know, I still can’t believe that this feather grew from Claude’s head. Not that I don't want him to get rid of them, it’s just wild to think about.”

Byleth mentally prepared herself for another invasive question, but fortunately, her assumption never came to pass. Hilda just kept on staring at the hat. “It’s actually sorta pretty. At certain angles, the feather looks more gold than brown. I once heard that harpies with golden feathers are especially revered in Almyra, but I never met one before, so I can’t tell you if that’s true or not. I wonder if…”

Now Byleth worried whether Hilda guessed at Claude’s secret royal lineage, but again, she didn’t say anything else on that matter. “But despite how pretty it is, it’s kinda small. It’s not big enough to complete the entire hat by itself. Maybe a ribbon around the base would help? Like what I did for my hat.”

Hilda gestured towards her own completed hat. It took Byleth a moment to realize that Hilda was asking for her opinion. It made sense, seeing as they were working on Byleth’s hat, but she was still caught off guard and had to think about what she wanted. Admittedly, a ribbon would be nice, yet her mind jumped to a different conclusion. If one feather wasn’t enough, then what about two? 

Byleth’s feather that fell off while preening clung to the insides of her robes. She picked it off and showed it to Hilda. “How about this?”

Pink eyes brimmed with confusion as they squinted at the grey feather. Byleth feared that her suggestion was going to be rejected, but Marianne spoke up before Hilda could. “Uh, Byleth, you didn’t pluck that from yourself, did you?”

“No. It fell off. It’s perfectly fine.”

“Oh. That’s good. Because I was going to say, there’s no need to go that far for a simple hat.” Hilda laughed. “Still, you’re ok with this? I’d imagine putting your feather on Claude’s hat is a bit like putting some of my hair on it, which is to say that it would weird me out if I were you.”

Byleth could see what she meant, but she nodded anyways. “I don’t mind. I think it would look nice if it was next to Claude’s feather, like this.”

She took the hat from Hilda, nestled her feather next to Claude’s, and gave it back to Hilda so she could work her magic. Like before, Hilda had lots to say as she attached the second feather.

“You probably already know this since this is your feather and all, but it’s got an iridescent sheen too. Kinda like Claude’s, but your feather is more blue-green-purple than gold. The color reminds me of a certain kind of pigeon, actually.”

Byleth, having no idea what kind of pigeon she was talking about, just nodded. It took Hilda the same amount of time to attach this feather next to Claude’s, which was to say it hardly took any time at all.

“All done!” Hilda exclaimed cheerily. She flipped the hat onto her head and smiled. “How do I look?”

“It looks lovely. You did a good job, as always.” Marianne beamed. Byleth concurred with her sentiments. by nodding her head.

“Hey, it wasn’t only me this time! Byleth was the one who came up with the idea. I just helped her. Here, how about you try this on?”

Hilda basically threw the feathered hat on Byleth’s head before she could protest. Byleth couldn’t see how it looked, but judging from how Hilda’s smile broadened, the hat was just as nice on a harpy as a human.

“Just as I thought. Claude is going to love your present.” Hilda clapped her hands, obviously pleased with how the hat turned out. “The feathers really are a nice touch. I’m sorry that I ever doubted you…”

Hilda’s smile diminished as Byleth took off the hat. Something was obviously eating at her, and she had to sigh loudly before she was ready to talk about it. “Actually, about that… I’m also sorry about saying all those weird things earlier. I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable, but I guess I was just way too fixated on the fact that you’re a harpy to realize that you were also a friend. And friends should have shut their yapping mouth before they got that far.”

Byleth tilted her head slightly and softened her gaze. “You think of me as a friend?”

“Yes!” Hilda’s ponytail fluttered as she nodded. “You’re part of the Golden Deer and you saved our lives! Multiple times even, in Claude’s case! How could we not be friends after all that?”

“But I’m a harpy, and you…” Byleth didn’t want to finish her sentence, and instead left it hanging.

Hilda sighed again. “I’ll admit, I’m still trying to get used to all this, but I want to. For the sake of Claude’s dream, and for the sake of being a good friend to you. So if I say something rude, you don’t have to hold back for dear old me.”

A quiet ‘oh’ escaped Marianne’s lips. Hilda glanced her way with a bemused look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ah, it’s just… I never thought that I’d hear something like from you.” Marianne whispered back, a faint smile on her lips.

“Hey, people can change! It wasn’t so long ago that you apologized for everything you said, but now look at you! Your words of wisdom helped me out of sticky situations twice now!”

Hilda’s remark drew a bigger smile from Marianne, as well as a sheepish laugh. Byleth couldn’t help but smile too. Although Hilda still needed time to acclimate to the new status quo, she was already making great strides by acknowledging her wrongdoings and apologizing for them. More than that, she wanted to be friends with Byleth. She wasn’t just putting up with her because Claude said so. After admitting to such earnestness, and opening herself up to criticism, Byleth felt confident in her equally heartfelt reply.

“Thank you, Hilda. I forgive you.”

“Oh, I didn’t expect that from you so quickly, but you’re welcome!” She beamed back. “I’m so glad we can put this behind us! Now, all we have to do is give these hats to Claude.”

Hilda picked up her black hat with a gold ribbon and green gemstone, and Marianne her brown hat with a horse pin. Byleth would have joined them, but as she gazed down at her supposedly finished green hat, her mind churned with more thoughts that stopped her.

“Actually,” She began, much to Hilda’s surprise. “I was wondering if the hat would look better with a ribbon.”

“Huh? Really?” Hilda sputtered out. “I mean, if that’s what you want, then it’d be easy and quick to add one! What kind of ribbon did you want?”

Byleth turned towards Hilda’s box of trinkets. Since the feathers were the main attraction of the hat, she should choose something simple to compliment them, not outshine them. It didn’t take long for her to find what she wanted, a normal black ribbon. Hilda went to work right away, and talked to herself while she affixed the ribbon over the feathers’ shafts and around the hat itself.

“Man, as soon as I’m finished, this hat is going to look…”

* * *

“Incredible!” Claude practically shouted as he weighed all three hats in his hands. “I can’t believe you made these for me!”

His smile, his  _ genuine _ smile, radiated like the sun. His gifts seemed to soak up said radiance and appear a lot fancier than they actually were. While Marianne returned the smile with her own and Byleth basked in his joy, Hilda flipped her ponytail as if this wasn’t a big deal.

“You’re welcome, Leader Man.” Despite her show of nonchalance, there was a hint of real satisfaction in her voice. “But let’s cut straight to the chase. Which hat are you going to wear first?”

“Hmm.” Claude eyed each of the three hats, although it was obvious that his attention was focused on Byleth’s dark green hat. Still, he tried to pretend that he wasn’t biased at all.

“Byleth, I have to ask, where did you get my feather?” He eventually said.

Byleth hesitated, wondering if it was alright to explain its origins out loud. Luckily, Sothis could explain such things without any fear of being overheard. 

“She got it from the letter you gave her a while ago. Which is now destroyed, by the way.” 

Claude of course heard Sothis loud and clear, but had to pretend otherwise. “Oh, actually, I remember now. And what about your feather? I hope you didn’t have to pluck it off yourself.”

“I didn’t. It fell off.”

“How convenient. But it still looks nice, especially next to mine.”

Claude gave Byleth a cheeky grin as he slipped his wolf cap off his head. His crest feathers were only visible for a split second before they were covered by his new hat. Once he seated it properly, he ran his hands over his ears, then offered up another sincere smile.

“Well? Do I look as great as I feel?”

Byleth found herself at a loss for words and could only manage a nod. The dark green hue of his hat not only suited him perfectly, it was also a forest-colored backdrop for the two feathers. Both of them seemed to shine in the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the window. Claude’s feather flashed a dusky gold, while Byleth’s feather switched between hues of brilliant greens, blues, and purples. More importantly, the hat itself covered the sides of Claude’s head so thoroughly, there wasn’t a hint of his real feathers underneath.

“Yeah! It’s much better than your dumb wolf cap, that’s for certain!” Hilda agreed in a not-so-eloquent manner.

“Geez, you really don’t pull any punches, don’t you Hilda?” Claude faked a hurt look that faded away when he glanced down at his old hat. “Oh well. If my new hats are that much of an improvement, then I don’t need this anymore. What to do with it…”

He lifted his eyes back up. Hilda seemed to recoil from it, for reasons that Byleth didn’t quite grasp until Claude placed the wolf cap over her green hair.

She blinked in confusion. “Claude? Why are you giving it to me?” 

“Well, you don’t have any hats, and I now have a spare, so when you do the math…”

His smug smile didn’t abate even when Sothis let out an audible scoff. “What does Byleth need a hat for? She doesn’t have feathers on her head to hide!”

“Oh, come on Claude! You can’t just pawn your junk off on someone like Byleth!” Hilda protested at the same time as Sothis.

“Why not? You like it, don’t you?” Claude asked Byleth.

Having voiced her opinion on the wolf cap before, she simply nodded. It was actually cozier than it looked. Even if it didn’t retain some heat from Claude, the thick fur and the flaps over her ears kept her snug and warm.

Apparently, it still wasn’t acceptable to Hilda, but she didn’t complain as loudly as before. She just sighed and crossed her arms. “Guess that’s another thing I’ll have to take care next time. Goddess knows how I’ll coordinate an outfit around your wolf hat….”

“There’s a next time?” Byleth piped up.

“Well yeah! I said I wanted to help you find more clothes, remember?”

She vaguely recalled something like that, but it had been buried under everything else that happened. That didn’t mean Byleth wasn’t alright with the idea though. She gave her a vague nod while Claude laughed again.

“Wow. Hilda is willingingly hanging out with a harpy? I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Why does everyone keep assuming that?” Hilda pouted. “Just because I said some mean stuff in the past doesn’t mean I hold any sort of grudge against Byleth! Have a little more faith in me, won’t you?”

“I’m just kidding. Really. I’m glad that you guys are getting along so well. It means a lot to me, you know.” Claude leveled his gaze towards the others. 

Although he left his statement hanging, Byleth could sense a deeper and more grateful meaning to his words. A meaning that she also harbored within her heart. While tugging sheepishly on her new wolf hat, she met Claude’s eyes and returned his smile with her own.


End file.
